About 40% of all mammal species are rodents (2,277 species); they are found in vast numbers on all continents except Antarctica [1]. To contribute to research on rodent evolution, today we are releasing a chromosome-length de novo assembly of a new rodent species, entirely from short reads.
The Brazilian porcupine Coendou prehensilis is a porcupine found in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, the Guyanas, Bolivia and Trinidad. Brazilian porcupines are well adapted to live and move in trees, with their muscular prehensile tail, hence the binomial C. prehensilis.
A blood sample for this genome assembly was donated by Bobby-Sue, a Brazilian porcupine from Moody Gardens. Thanks to the Moody Gardens team for their help!
Check out how the 37 chromosomes of the new genome align to the 20 chromosomes of the house mouse Mus musculus (genome assembly GRCm38) and the 32 chromosomes of the guinea pig Cavia porcellus, a more closely related rodent from among the DNA Zoo releases, shared here.
