A highly contiguous genome assembly for the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia).

Abstract

The Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) is a small songbird in the wood-warbler family (Parulidae) that exhibits phenotypic and ecological differences across a widespread distribution and is important to California's riparian habitat conservation. Here, we present a high-quality de novo genome assembly of a vouchered female Yellow Warbler from southern California. Using HiFi long-read and Omni-C proximity sequencing technologies, we generated a 1.22 Gb assembly including 687 scaffolds with a contig N50 of 6.80 Mb, scaffold N50 of 21.18 Mb, and a BUSCO completeness score of 96.0%. This highly contiguous genome assembly provides an essential resource for understanding the history of gene flow, divergence, and local adaptation in Yellow Warblers and can inform conservation management of this charismatic bird species.