UC Irvine

White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) are the critical host for black-legged ticks, which carry and spread the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. A high-quality genome assembly of P. leucopus is a prerequisite for the genetic experiments which will identify host factors that determine the suitability of P. leucopus to serve as a host. We created a high-quality assembly of the white-footed mouse genome by combining Hi-C data with an existing draft assembly to generate chromosome-length scaffolds for the Peromyscus genome. We then validated this new assembly by comparing it to a previously published genetic linkage map. A synteny analysis between our assembly and the published genome for the common brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) supports previous results that the two genomes are very similar. Furthermore, the assembly reveals that chromosomes 16 and 21 reside on a single scaffold, suggesting a possible fusion between the two chromosomes in the past. In summary, this new assembly represents a novel high-quality genomic resource for mouse research as well as a starting point for investigating the genotypic basis of the ability of Peromyscus to serve as a reservoir host for Lyme disease.