De novo assembly at chromosomal level of the indigenous Venda chicken

Venda chickens are indigenous to South Africa and are known for their robustness traits (ability to grow, reproduce, and survive) in environments with dry, hot, and humid weather and food shortages. Understanding the genetic mechanisms that regulate robustness traits in Venda chicken is important for sustainable breeding and genetic improvement programs in the Southern African poultry industry. Therefore, this study aimed to produce a <i>de novo</i> assembly of a female Venda chicken genome at chromosomal level using long-read sequencing technology, complemented by Omni-C data. The assembled genome size is 1.09 Gb with the longest scaffold of 179 Mb. The assembly statistics resulted in a scaffold N50 of 90.4 Mb and contig N50 of 20MB, scaffold and contig L50 were 4, and the GC content 42%. The BUSCO completeness was 97.3% with complete and single-copy (S) genes of 8056. The genome annotation predicted 17891 protein-coding genes, with an average gene length of 4665.8 bp. This is the first chromosomal-level genome of the indigenous Venda chicken and will contribute to conservation and genetic improvement of the breed.