Editors Assessment:
This Data Release paper presents the genome of the whippet breed of dog. Demonstrating a streamlined laboratory and bioinformatics workflows with PacBio HiFi long-read whole-genome sequencing that enables the generation of a high-quality reference genome within one week. The genome study being a collaboration between an academic biodiversity institute and a medical diagnostic company. The presented method of working and workflow providing examples that can be used for a wide range of future human and non-human genome projects. The final is 2.47 Gbp assembly being of high quality - with a contig N50 of 55 Mbp and a scaffold N50 of 65.7 Mbp. This reference being scaffolded into 39 chromosome-length scaffolds and the annotation resulting in 28,383 transcripts. The results also looked at the Myostatin gene which can be used for breeding purposes, as these heterozygous animals can have an advantage in dog races. The reviewers making the authors clarify this part a little better with additional results. Overall this study demonstrating how rapidly animal genome research can be carried out through close and streamlined time management and collaboration.
This evaluation refers to version 1 of the preprint