The chromosomal-level genome assembly and comprehensive transcriptomes of Chinese razor clam (Sinonovacula constricta) with deep-burrowing life style and broad-range salinity adaptation

BackgroundThe Chinese razor clam, Sinonovacula constricta, is one of the commercially important marine bivalves with deep-burrowing lifestyle and remarkable adaptability of broad-range salinity. Despite its economic impact and representative of the less-understood deep-burrowing bivalve lifestyle, there are few genomic resources for exploring its unique biology and adaptive evolution. Herein, we reported a high-quality chromosomal-level reference genome of S. constricta, the first genome of the family Solenidae, along with a large amount of short-read/full-length transcriptomic data of whole-ontogeny developmental stages, all major adult tissues, and gill tissues under salinity challenge.\n\nFindingsA total of 101.79 Gb and 129.73 Gb sequencing data were obtained with the PacBio and Illumina platforms, which represented approximately 186.63X genome coverage. In addition, a total of 160.90 Gb and 24.55 Gb clean data were also obtained with the Illumina and PacBio platforms for transcriptomic investigation. A de novo genome assembly of 1,340.13 Mb was generated, with a contig N50 of 689.18 kb. Hi-C scaffolding resulted in 19 chromosomes with a scaffold N50 of 57.99 Mb. The repeat sequences account for 50.71% of the assembled genome. A total of 26,273 protein-coding genes were predicted and 99.5% of them were annotated. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that S. constricta diverged from the lineage of Pteriomorphia at approximately 494 million years ago. Notably, cytoskeletal protein tubulin and motor protein dynein gene families are rapidly expanded in the S. constricta genome and are highly expressed in the mantle and gill, implicating potential genomic bases for the well-developed ciliary system in the S. constricta.\n\nConclusionsThe high-quality genome assembly and comprehensive transcriptomes generated in this work not only provides highly valuable genomic resources for future studies of S. constricta, but also lays a solid foundation for further investigation into the adaptive mechanisms of benthic burrowing mollusks.