The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a widely distributed native wildlife species in China, where it plays an important role in diverse ecosystems. Current research on wild boars primarily focused on their geographical distribution, epidemiological investigation, and genetic relationship with domesticated pigs. However, our understanding of the genomic characteristics of wild boar remains limited. Here, we present two high-quality chromosome-level genome assemblies for Chinese wild boars, generated using PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing technologies. The genome assemblies have a mean size of 2.62 Gb, with an average contig N50 of 58.0 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 140.2 Mb. Both genomes were successfully anchored to 18 autosomes and the X chromosome. The Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) assessment showed a high level of genome completeness at 96.3%. On average, a total of 25,851 protein-coding genes were annotated, with a transcriptome BUSCO completeness score of 94.4%. We identified 1.24 Gb of repeat sequences, accounting for 47.31% of the genome. Among these, retroelements represent 38.26%, with LINEs being the most prevalent. The two high-quality genome assemblies presented in this study provide valuable genomic resources for future research and will support the conservation and management of wild boar genetic diversity.
Wang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.