Chromosome-scale genomes of ecologically and economically important rabbitfish Siganus guttatus and Siganus oramin

Abstract

Siganus guttatus and Siganus oramin are two major species that are naturally distributed along the Eastern Pacific coast and possess considerable ecological and economic value. Here, we present the construction and comparative analysis of the chromosome-level genomes of these two Siganus species. Employing a hybrid assembly strategy, we partitioned and independently assembled the PacBio, Illumina and Hi-C reads of S. guttatus and S. oramin, resulting in chromosome-level genomes. The assembly sizes (N50 size, BUSCO completeness) of the two genomes were 642.4 M (25.76 M, 98.26 %) and 502.8 M (16.98 M, 98.8 %) for S. guttatus and S. oramin, respectively, exhibiting high contiguity and integrity. This study marks the first successful assembly of chromosome-level genomes in Siganus species, along with an initial exploration of their dietary habits and habitats through comparative genomics analysis. These findings offer essential resources for comparative genomics and molecular evolution research.