Chromosome-level genome assembly of burbot (Lota lota) provides insights into the evolutionary adaptations in freshwater.

Abstract

The burbot (Lota lota) is the only member of the order Gadiformes adapted solely to freshwater. This species has the widest longitudinal range among freshwater fish worldwide. Burbot serves as a good model for studies on adaptive genome evolution from marine to freshwater environments. However, a high-quality reference genome of burbot has not yet been released. Here, the first chromosome-level genome of burbot was constructed using PacBio long sequencing and Hi-C technology. A total of 95.24Gb polished PacBio sequences were generated, and the preliminary genome assembly was 575.83Mb in size with a contig N50 size of 2.15Mb. The assembled sequences were anchored to 22 pseudochromosomes by using Hi-C data. The final assembled genome after Hi-C correction was 575.92Mb, with a contig N50 of 2.01Mb and a scaffold N50 of 22.10Mb. A total of 22,067 protein-coding genes were predicted, 94.82% of which were functionally annotated. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that burbot diverged with the Atlantic cod approximately 43.8 million years ago. In addition, 377 putative genes that appear to be under positive selection in burbot were identified. These positively selected genes might be involved in the adaptation to the freshwater environment. These genome data provide an invaluable resource for the ecological and evolutionary study of the order Gadiformes.