Chromosome-level genome assembly of the Endangered scaly-sided merganser Mergus squamatus with insight into its demographic history.

Abstract

The scaly-sided merganser, Mergus squamatus, is an Endangered piscivorous duck which has been declining since the late 1900s due to habitat loss, over-hunting, and climate change. Despite being a species of global conservation concern and subject to ex- and in-situ conservation efforts, genomic research has been limited, hindering our understanding of its population genetic status and evolutionary history. In this study, we present the first fully annotated, chromosome-level genome for the scaly-sided merganser, generated using Oxford Nanopore long reads, Illumina short reads, and Hi-C sequencing. The final assembly spans 1.1 Gb across 308 scaffolds, 64 of which are anchored into 35 chromosomes, plus the mitogenome, covering 99.5% of the genome. The assembly shows high contiguity (N50 = 84.3Mb) and completeness, with a Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Ortholog (BUSCO) score of 98%. Repeat sequences comprise 9.55% of the genome. Homology-based gene annotation identified ∼15,200 protein-coding genes. A complete 16,624 bp mitochondrial genome was also assembled and annotated. Synteny analysis revealed strong chromosomal conservation across the wider Anatidae family, with evidence of lineage-specific rearrangements. Pairwise Sequential Markovian Coalescence modelling indicates recent stability in the effective population size of the species, with past declines coinciding with Pleistocene glacial cycles. Our high-quality genome provides an essential resource for conservation genomic and evolutionary studies of the scaly-sided merganser, supporting ongoing efforts to manage and protect this globally threatened species.