The first Ocean Genomes paper is now out! This one is a small commentary piece, but some high-quality genomes are on their way - watch this space. Well, actually, watch this space at Genomes on a Tree!
de Jong E, Parata L, Bayer PE, Corrigan S & Edwards RJ (2024): Toward genome assemblies for all marine vertebrates: current landscape and challenges. Gigascience 13:giad119. [Gigascience] [PubMed]
Marine vertebrate biodiversity is fundamental to ocean ecosystem health but is threatened by climate change, overharvesting, and habitat degradation. High-quality reference genomes are valuable foundational scientific resources that can inform conservation efforts. Consequently, global consortia are striving to produce reference genomes for representatives of all life. Here, we summarize the current landscape of available marine vertebrate reference genomes, including their phylogenetic diversity and geographic hotspots of production. We discuss key logistical and technical challenges that remain to be overcome if we are to realize the vision of a comprehensive reference genome library of all marine vertebrates.
