Telomere-to-telomere-level genome assembly and annotation of the Zi goose Anser cygnoides

This study leveraged advanced genomic sequencing technologies, including Oxford Nanopore technology long reads, Pacific Biosciences HiFi sequencing reads, BGISEQ T7 short reads, and high-throughput chromatin conformation capture technology, to demonstrate the telomere-to-telomere genome assembly and annotation of the Zi goose, a distinctive breed in the cold regions of China. The assembled genome spans 1,305,488,053 bp with exceptional continuity (contig N50: 54,135,724 bp; scaffold N50: 81,055,700 bp). A total of 1,219,987,289 bp were anchored to 40 chromosomes (38 autosomes and a Z/W sex chromosome pair), with 13 chromosomes assembled gap-free, a BUSCO completeness score of 96.8%, and a protein completeness score of 91.7%. Genome annotation predicted a total of 18,359 protein-coding genes, among which 17,592 have been functionally characterized. In addition, 260,266,197 bp of sequences were identified as repetitive sequences, and 655,314 bp were identified as noncoding RNA sequences. This high-quality genome assembly provides valuable genetic resources and a theoretical basis for dissecting the important economic traits of the Zi goose and promoting the development of unique agriculture in cold regions.