Best foot forward: nanopore long reads, hybrid meta-assembly, and haplotig purging optimizes the first genome assembly for the southern hemisphere blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra)

Marine molluscs of the family Haliotidae, commonly referred to as abalone, are a group of benthic reef species targeted by commercial fisheries in 11 countries, forming an important global industry worth approximately US $180 million (Gordon and Cook, 2013). Many abalone fisheries have collapsed in recent decades due to overexploitation, environmental change, and disease, with a number of target species now listed as endangered or considered "species of concern" (Hauck and Sweijd, 1999; Leiva and Castilla, 2002; Gruenthal and Burton, 2005; Kashiwada and Taniguchi, 2007). The world's largest thriving abalone fisheries persist in southern Australia which is currently home to a thriving and rapidly growing aquaculture industry making up approximately 10% of Australia's export market. In this region, the abalone species Haliotis rubra (Figure 1A) was targeted in five states extending from Western Australia to southern New South Wales and Tasmania with a net value of US $79 million (Mundy et al., 2014).

Frontiers in Genetics

Frontiers in Genetics

10

1664-8021

N/A

N/A

7