A Hybrid de novo Assembly of the Sea Pansy ( Renilla muelleri ) Genome

Abstract Background Over 3,000 species of octocorals (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) inhabit an expansive range of environments, from shallow tropical seas to the deep-ocean floor. They are important foundation species that create coral “forests” which provide unique niches and three-dimensional living space for other organisms. The octocoral genus Renilla inhabits sandy, continental shelves in the subtropical and tropical Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Renilla is especially interesting because it produces secondary metabolites for defense, exhibits bioluminescence, and produces a luciferase that is widely used in dual-reporter assays in molecular biology. Although several cnidarian genomes are currently available, the majority are from hexacorals. Here, we present a de novo assembly of the R. muelleri genome, making this the first complete draft genome from an octocoral. Findings We generated a hybrid de novo assembly using the Maryland Super-Read Celera Assembler v.3.2.6 (MaSuRCA). The final assembly included 4,825 scaffolds and a haploid genome size of 172 Mb. A BUSCO assessment found 88% of metazoan orthologs present in the genome. An Augustus ab initio gene prediction found 23,660 genes, of which 66% (15,635) had detectable similarity to annotated genes from the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, or to the Uniprot database. Although the R. muelleri genome is smaller (172 Mb) than other publicly available, hexacoral genomes (256-448 Mb), the R. muelleri genome is similar to the hexacoral genomes in terms of the number of complete metazoan BUSCOs and predicted gene models. Conclusions The R. muelleri hybrid genome provides a novel resource for researchers to investigate the evolution of genes and gene families within Octocorallia and more widely across Anthozoa. It will be a key resource for future comparative genomics with other corals and for understanding the genomic basis of coral diversity.