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. 2025 Apr 8;10:180. [Version 1] doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.23919.1

The genome sequence of long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809)

Nicholas J Davison 1, Phillip A Morin 2; Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Management, Samples and Laboratory team; Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: Sequencing Operations; Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Core Informatics team; Tree of Life Core Informatics collective; Darwin Tree of Life Consortiuma
PMCID: PMC12009481  PMID: 40256617

Abstract

We present a genome assembly from a male specimen of Globicephala melas (long-finned pilot whale; Chordata; Mammalia; Artiodactyla; Delphinidae). The genome sequence has a total length of 2,651.28 megabases. Most of the assembly (89.15%) is scaffolded into 23 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the X and Y sex chromosomes. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled, with a length of 16.39 kilobases. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 17,911 protein-coding genes.

Keywords: Globicephala melas, long-finned pilot whale, genome sequence, chromosomal, Artiodactyla

Species taxonomy

Eukaryota; Opisthokonta; Metazoa; Eumetazoa; Bilateria; Deuterostomia; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Gnathostomata; Teleostomi; Euteleostomi; Sarcopterygii; Dipnotetrapodomorpha; Tetrapoda; Amniota; Mammalia; Theria; Eutheria; Boreoeutheria; Laurasiatheria; Artiodactyla; Whippomorpha; Cetacea; Odontoceti; Delphinidae; Globicephala; Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809) (NCBI:txid9731)

Background

Pilot whales, named for an early theory that schools were piloted by a leader, consist of two recognized species, the short-finned pilot whale ( Globicephala macrorhynchus), and the long-finned pilot whale ( Globicephala melas). They have also been referred to as pothead whales (due to the large bulbous forehead or ‘melon’) and blackfish, a term commonly applied to several species with similar characteristics. The short-finned pilot whale is found in tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate waters globally, potentially consisting of multiple subspecies ( Van Cise et al., 2016; Van Cise et al., 2019), though official taxonomic recognition will require additional research. The long-finned pilot whale is distributed in cold temperate waters, with anti-tropically separated subspecies in the North Atlantic ( G. melas melas) and Southern Hemisphere ( G. melas edwardii) ( Olson, 2018).

Pilot whales are typically nomadic and widely distributed in regions pelagic and coastal or oceanic regions, often associated with areas of high topographic relief and the continental shelf break and slope, with some coastal and island-associated resident populations. Primary diet consists of squid and other cephalopods, and smaller amounts of fish. They are highly social, typically found in schools averaging 20 to 90 individuals, consisting of stable pods of 10–20 individuals with close matrilineal associations ( Olson, 2018).

While both long-finned and short-finned pilot whales are considered abundant and listed as Least Concern globally for extinction risk by the IUCN (IUCNredlist.org, consulted 20 September, 2024), they are subject to direct exploitation in some areas, bycatch in fisheries, zoonotic disease, pollution, anthropogenic noise (such as naval sonar and air guns used in oil and gas exploration) and climate change. They are one of the most frequently reported species involved in mass strandings, though the causes of such strandings remains uncertain. Resident populations might be particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts ( Van Cise et al., 2017).

The genome of a long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, from the North Atlantic subspecies ( G. melas melas) was sequenced as part of the Darwin Tree of Life Project, a collaborative effort to sequence all named eukaryotic species in the Atlantic Archipelago of Britain and Ireland. We present a chromosome-level complete genome sequence for Globicephala melas, based on a male specimen from Skye, Scotland, UK.

Genome sequence report

Sequencing data

The genome of a specimen of Globicephala melas ( Figure 1) was sequenced using Pacific Biosciences single-molecule HiFi long reads, generating 82.54 Gb (gigabases) from 12.10 million reads. GenomeScope analysis of the PacBio HiFi data estimated the haploid genome size at 2,739.70 Mb, with a heterozygosity of 0.03% and repeat content of 23.94%. These values provide an initial assessment of genome complexity and the challenges anticipated during assembly. Based on this estimated genome size, the sequencing data provided approximately 29.0x coverage of the genome. Chromosome conformation Hi-C sequencing produced 401.75 Gb from 2,660.60 million reads. Table 1 summarises the specimen and sequencing information.

Figure 1. Photograph of the Globicephala melas (mGloMel1) specimen used for genome sequencing.

Figure 1.

Table 1. Specimen and sequencing data for Globicephala melas.

Project information
Study title Globicephala melas (long-finned pilot whale)
Umbrella BioProject PRJEB64971
Species Globicephala melas
BioSpecimen SAMEA111380538
NCBI taxonomy ID 9731
Specimen information
Technology ToLID BioSample accession Organism part
PacBio long read sequencing mGloMel1 SAMEA111380546 lung
Hi-C sequencing mGloMel1 SAMEA111380546 lung
RNA sequencing mGloMel1 SAMEA111380546 lung
Sequencing information
Platform Run accession Read count Base count (Gb)
Hi-C Illumina NovaSeq 6000 ERR11837528 2.66e+09 401.75
PacBio Sequel IIe ERR11843439 2.91e+06 19.21
PacBio Sequel IIe ERR11843441 3.26e+06 23.65
PacBio Sequel IIe ERR11843438 3.10e+06 20.47
PacBio Sequel IIe ERR11843440 2.83e+06 19.2
RNA Illumina NovaSeq 6000 ERR11837529 3.36e+07 5.08

Assembly statistics

The primary haplotype was assembled, and contigs corresponding to an alternate haplotype were also deposited in INSDC databases. The assembly was improved by manual curation, which corrected 15 misjoins or missing joins. These interventions decreased the scaffold count by 1.0% and increased the scaffold N50 by 9.23%. The final assembly has a total length of 2,651.28 Mb in 992 scaffolds, with 1,084 gaps, and a scaffold N50 of 105.09 Mb ( Table 2).

Table 2. Genome assembly data for Globicephala melas.

Genome assembly
Assembly name mGloMel1.2
Assembly accession GCA_963455315.2
Alternate haplotype accession GCA_963455345.2
Assembly level for primary assembly chromosome
Span (Mb) 2,651.28
Number of contigs 2,076
Number of scaffolds 992
Longest scaffold (Mb) 188.11
Assembly metric Measure Benchmark
Contig N50 length 3.29 Mb ≥ 1 Mb
Scaffold N50 length 105.09 Mb = chromosome N50
Consensus quality (QV) Primary: 61.6; alternate: 60.7;
combined: 61.2
≥ 40
k-mer completeness Primary: 97.07%; alternate:
77.15%; combined: 99.44%.
≥ 95%
BUSCO * C:95.5%[S:93.3%,D:2.2%],
F:1.0%,M:3.5%,n:13,335
S > 90%; D < 5%
Percentage of assembly mapped to
chromosomes
89.15% ≥ 90%
Sex chromosomes X and Y localised homologous pairs
Organelles Mitochondrial genome: 16.39
kb
complete single alleles

* BUSCO scores based on the cetartiodactyla_odb10 BUSCO set using version 5.5.0. C = complete [S = single copy, D = duplicated], F = fragmented, M = missing, n = number of orthologues in comparison.

The snail plot in Figure 2 provides a summary of the assembly statistics, indicating the distribution of scaffold lengths and other assembly metrics. Figure 3 shows the distribution of scaffolds by GC proportion and coverage. Figure 4 presents a cumulative assembly plot, with separate curves representing different scaffold subsets assigned to various phyla, illustrating the completeness of the assembly.

Figure 2. Genome assembly of Globicephala melas, mGloMel1.2: metrics.

Figure 2.

The BlobToolKit snail plot provides an overview of assembly metrics and BUSCO gene completeness. The circumference represents the length of the whole genome sequence, and the main plot is divided into 1,000 bins around the circumference. The outermost blue tracks display the distribution of GC, AT, and N percentages across the bins. Scaffolds are arranged clockwise from longest to shortest and are depicted in dark grey. The longest scaffold is indicated by the red arc, and the deeper orange and pale orange arcs represent the N50 and N90 lengths. A light grey spiral at the centre shows the cumulative scaffold count on a logarithmic scale. A summary of complete, fragmented, duplicated, and missing BUSCO genes in the cetartiodactyla_odb10 set is presented at the top right. An interactive version of this figure is available at https://blobtoolkit.genomehubs.org/view/GCA_963455315.2/dataset/GCA_963455315.2/snail.

Figure 3. Genome assembly of Globicephala melas, mGloMel1.2: BlobToolKit GC-coverage plot.

Figure 3.

Blob plot showing sequence coverage (vertical axis) and GC content (horizontal axis). The circles represent scaffolds, with the size proportional to scaffold length and the colour representing phylum membership. The histograms along the axes display the total length of sequences distributed across different levels of coverage and GC content. An interactive version of this figure is available at https://blobtoolkit.genomehubs.org/view/GCA_963455315.2/dataset/GCA_963455315.2/blob.

Figure 4. Genome assembly of Globicephala melas, mGloMel1.2: BlobToolKit cumulative sequence plot.

Figure 4.

The grey line shows cumulative length for all scaffolds. Coloured lines show cumulative lengths of scaffolds assigned to each phylum using the buscogenes taxrule. An interactive version of this figure is available at https://blobtoolkit.genomehubs.org/view/GCA_963455315.2/dataset/GCA_963455315.2/cumulative.

Most of the assembly sequence (89.15%) was assigned to 23 chromosomal-level scaffolds, representing 21 autosomes and the X and Y sex chromosome. These chromosome-level scaffolds, confirmed by Hi-C data, are named according to size ( Figure 5; Table 3). During curation, it was noted that Chromosomes X and Y were assigned by read coverage statistics and synteny to the genome of Delphinus delphis (GCA_949987515.1).

Figure 5. Genome assembly of Globicephala mela: Hi-C contact map of the mGloMel1.2 assembly, produced in PretextView.

Figure 5.

Chromosomes are shown in order of size from left to right and top to bottom.

Table 3. Chromosomal pseudomolecules in the genome assembly of Globicephala melas, mGloMel1.

INSDC accession Name Length (Mb) GC%
OY734039.1 1 188.11 42
OY734040.2 2 178.82 41.5
OY734041.1 3 171.32 41
OY734042.1 4 146.48 39.5
OY734043.1 5 140.22 39
OY734045.1 6 115.44 42
OY734046.1 7 115.18 40
OY734047.1 8 108.12 42.5
OY734048.1 9 105.09 40
OY734049.1 10 103.04 41.5
OY734050.2 11 102.7 43
OY734051.1 12 90.74 42
OY734052.1 13 89.85 43
OY734053.1 14 88.67 39
OY734054.1 15 86.73 46
OY734055.1 16 83.95 42.5
OY734056.1 17 79.95 40.5
OY734057.1 18 79.7 39.5
OY734058.1 19 62.92 46.5
OY734059.1 20 58.78 46.5
OY734060.1 21 35.6 41
OY734044.1 X 125.8 40.5
OY734061.1 Y 6.52 42
OY734062.1 MT 0.02 39

The mitochondrial genome was also assembled. This sequence is included as a contig in the multifasta file of the genome submission and as a standalone record.

Assembly quality metrics

The estimated Quality Value (QV) and k-mer completeness metrics, along with BUSCO completeness scores, were calculated for each haplotype and the combined assembly. The QV reflects the base-level accuracy of the assembly, while k-mer completeness indicates the proportion of expected k-mers identified in the assembly. BUSCO scores provide a measure of completeness based on benchmarking universal single-copy orthologues.

The combined primary and alternate assemblies achieve an estimated QV of 61.2. The k-mer recovery for the primary haplotype is 97.07%, and for the alternate haplotype 77.15%; the combined primary and alternate assemblies have a k-mer recovery of 99.44%. BUSCO v.5.5.0 analysis using the cetartiodactyla_odb10 reference set ( n = 13,335) identified 95.5% of the expected gene set (single = 93.3%, duplicated = 2.2%).

Table 2 provides assembly metric benchmarks adapted from Rhie et al. (2021) and the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) Report on Assembly Standards September 2024. The assembly achieves the EBP reference standard of 6.8.Q61.

Genome annotation report

The Globicephala melas genome assembly (GCA_963455315.1) was annotated externally by Ensembl at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI). This annotation includes 39,375 transcribed mRNAs from 17,911 protein-coding and 5,689 non-coding genes. The average transcript length is 60,316.82. There are 1.64 coding transcripts per gene and 9.84 exons per transcript. For further information about the annotation, please refer to https://beta.ensembl.org/species/cf40824d-11c6-4bb7-aff2-18ecce2bac7a.

Methods

Sample acquisition

An adult male Globicephala melas (specimen ID SAN00002603, ToLID mGloMel1) was collected from Coruisk, Loch Na Cuilce, Skye, Highland, Scotland (latitude 57.1989, longitude –6.165) on 2022-05-03. The specimen was collected and identified by Nick Davison (Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme University of Glasgow). A sample of lung was collected at necropsy and preserved by freezing at –80 °C.

Metadata collection for samples adhered to the Darwin Tree of Life project standards described by Lawniczak et al. (2022).

Nucleic acid extraction

The workflow for high molecular weight (HMW) DNA extraction at the Wellcome Sanger Institute (WSI) Tree of Life Core Laboratory includes a sequence of procedures: sample preparation and homogenisation, DNA extraction, fragmentation and purification. Detailed protocols are available on protocols.io ( Denton et al., 2023). The mGloMel1 sample was prepared for DNA extraction by weighing and dissecting it on dry ice ( Jay et al., 2023). Tissue from the lung was cryogenically disrupted using the Covaris cryoPREP ® Automated Dry Pulverizer ( Narváez-Gómez et al., 2023). HMW DNA was extracted using the Automated MagAttract v1 protocol ( Sheerin et al., 2023). DNA was sheared into an average fragment size of 12–20 kb in a Megaruptor 3 system ( Todorovic et al., 2023). Sheared DNA was purified by solid-phase reversible immobilisation, using AMPure PB beads to eliminate shorter fragments and concentrate the DNA ( Strickland et al., 2023). The concentration of the sheared and purified DNA was assessed using a Nanodrop spectrophotometer and a Qubit Fluorometer using the Qubit dsDNA High Sensitivity Assay kit. The fragment size distribution was evaluated by running the sample on the FemtoPulse system.

RNA was extracted from lung tissue of mGloMel1 in the Tree of Life Laboratory at the WSI using the RNA Extraction: Automated MagMax™ mirVana protocol ( do Amaral et al., 2023). The RNA concentration was assessed using a Nanodrop spectrophotometer and a Qubit Fluorometer using the Qubit RNA Broad-Range Assay kit. Analysis of the integrity of the RNA was done using the Agilent RNA 6000 Pico Kit and Eukaryotic Total RNA assay.

Hi-C sample preparation and crosslinking

Tissue from the lung of the mGloMel1 sample was processed for Hi-C sequencing at the WSI Scientific Operations core, using the Arima-HiC v2 kit. In brief, 20–50 mg of frozen tissue (stored at –80 °C) was fixed, and the DNA crosslinked using a TC buffer with 22% formaldehyde concentration. After crosslinking, the tissue was homogenised using the Diagnocine Power Masher-II and BioMasher-II tubes and pestles. Following the Arima-HiC v2 kit manufacturer's instructions, crosslinked DNA was digested using a restriction enzyme master mix. The 5’-overhangs were filled in and labelled with biotinylated nucleotides and proximally ligated. An overnight incubation was carried out for enzymes to digest remaining proteins and for crosslinks to reverse. A clean up was performed with SPRIselect beads prior to library preparation. Additionally, the biotinylation percentage was estimated using the Qubit Fluorometer v4.0 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and Qubit HS Assay Kit and Arima-HiC v2 QC beads.

Library preparation and sequencing

Library preparation and sequencing were performed at the WSI Scientific Operations core.

PacBio HiFi

At a minimum, samples were required to have an average fragment size exceeding 8 kb and a total mass over 400 ng to proceed to the low input SMRTbell Prep Kit 3.0 protocol (Pacific Biosciences, California, USA), depending on genome size and sequencing depth required. Libraries were prepared using the SMRTbell Prep Kit 3.0 (Pacific Biosciences, California, USA) as per the manufacturer's instructions. The kit includes the reagents required for end repair/A-tailing, adapter ligation, post-ligation SMRTbell bead cleanup, and nuclease treatment. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, size selection and clean up was carried out using diluted AMPure PB beads (Pacific Biosciences, California, USA). DNA concentration was quantified using the Qubit Fluorometer v4.0 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) with Qubit 1X dsDNA HS assay kit and the final library fragment size analysis was carried out using the Agilent Femto Pulse Automated Pulsed Field CE Instrument (Agilent Technologies) and gDNA 55kb BAC analysis kit.

Samples were sequenced using the Sequel IIe system (Pacific Biosciences, California, USA). The concentration of the library loaded onto the Sequel IIe was in the range 40–135 pM. The SMRT link software, a PacBio web-based end-to-end workflow manager, was used to set-up and monitor the run, as well as perform primary and secondary analysis of the data upon completion.

Hi-C

For Hi-C library preparation, DNA was fragmented using the Covaris E220 sonicator (Covaris) and size selected using SPRISelect beads to 400 to 600 bp. The DNA was then enriched using the Arima-HiC v2 kit Enrichment beads. Using the NEBNext Ultra II DNA Library Prep Kit (New England Biolabs) for end repair, A-tailing, and adapter ligation. This uses a custom protocol which resembles the standard NEBNext Ultra II DNA Library Prep protocol but where library preparation occurs while DNA is bound to the Enrichment beads. For library amplification, 10 to 16 PCR cycles were required, determined by the sample biotinylation percentage. The Hi-C sequencing was performed using paired-end sequencing with a read length of 150 bp on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 instrument.

RNA

Poly(A) RNA-Seq libraries were constructed using the NEB Ultra II RNA Library Prep kit, following the manufacturer’s instructions. RNA sequencing was performed on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 instrument.

Genome assembly, curation and evaluation

Assembly

Prior to assembly of the PacBio HiFi reads, a database of k-mer counts ( k = 31) was generated from the filtered reads using FastK. GenomeScope2 ( Ranallo-Benavidez et al., 2020) was used to analyse the k-mer frequency distributions, providing estimates of genome size, heterozygosity, and repeat content.

The HiFi reads were first assembled using Hifiasm ( Cheng et al., 2021) with the --primary option. Haplotypic duplications were identified and removed using purge_dups ( Guan et al., 2020). The Hi-C reads ( Rao et al., 2014) were mapped to the primary contigs using bwa-mem2 ( Vasimuddin et al., 2019), and the contigs were scaffolded using YaHS ( Zhou et al., 2023) using the --break option for handling potential misassemblies. The scaffolded assemblies were evaluated using Gfastats ( Formenti et al., 2022), BUSCO ( Manni et al., 2021) and MERQURY.FK ( Rhie et al., 2020).

The mitochondrial genome was assembled using MitoHiFi ( Uliano-Silva et al., 2023), which runs MitoFinder ( Allio et al., 2020) and uses these annotations to select the final mitochondrial contig and to ensure the general quality of the sequence.

Assembly curation

The assembly was decontaminated using the Assembly Screen for Cobionts and Contaminants (ASCC) pipeline. Flat files and maps used in curation were generated via the TreeVal pipeline ( Pointon et al., 2023). Manual curation was conducted primarily in PretextView ( Harry, 2022) and HiGlass ( Kerpedjiev et al., 2018), with additional insights provided by JBrowse2 ( Diesh et al., 2023). Scaffolds were visually inspected and corrected as described by Howe et al. (2021). Any identified contamination, missed joins, and mis-joins were amended, and duplicate sequences were tagged and removed. The curation process is documented at https://gitlab.com/wtsi-grit/rapid-curation.

Assembly quality assessment

The Merqury.FK tool ( Rhie et al., 2020), run in a Singularity container ( Kurtzer et al., 2017), was used to evaluate k-mer completeness and assembly quality for the primary and alternate haplotypes using the k-mer databases ( k = 31) computed prior to genome assembly. The analysis outputs included assembly QV scores and completeness statistics.

The blobtoolkit pipeline is a Nextflow ( Di Tommaso et al., 2017) port of the previous Snakemake Blobtoolkit pipeline ( Challis et al., 2020). It aligns the PacBio reads in SAMtools and minimap2 ( Li, 2018) and generates coverage tracks for regions of fixed size. In parallel, it queries the GoaT database ( Challis et al., 2023) to identify all matching BUSCO lineages to run BUSCO ( Manni et al., 2021). For the three domain-level BUSCO lineages, the pipeline aligns the BUSCO genes to the UniProt Reference Proteomes database ( Bateman et al., 2023) with DIAMOND blastp ( Buchfink et al., 2021). The genome is also divided into chunks according to the density of the BUSCO genes from the closest taxonomic lineage, and each chunk is aligned to the UniProt Reference Proteomes database using DIAMOND blastx. Genome sequences without a hit are chunked using seqtk and aligned to the NT database with blastn ( Altschul et al., 1990). The blobtools suite combines all these outputs into a blobdir for visualisation.

The blobtoolkit pipeline was developed using nf-core tooling ( Ewels et al., 2020) and MultiQC ( Ewels et al., 2016), relying on the Conda package manager, the Bioconda initiative ( Grüning et al., 2018), the Biocontainers infrastructure ( da Veiga Leprevost et al., 2017), as well as the Docker ( Merkel, 2014) and Singularity ( Kurtzer et al., 2017) containerisation solutions.

Table 4 contains a list of relevant software tool versions and sources.

Table 4. Software tools: versions and sources.

Software tool Version Source
BLAST 2.14.0 ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/blast+/
BlobToolKit 4.3.9 https://github.com/blobtoolkit/blobtoolkit
BUSCO 5.5.0 https://gitlab.com/ezlab/busco
bwa-mem2 2.2.1 https://github.com/bwa-mem2/bwa-mem2
DIAMOND 2.1.8 https://github.com/bbuchfink/diamond
fasta_windows 0.2.4 https://github.com/tolkit/fasta_windows
FastK 666652151335353eef2fcd58880bcef5bc2928e1 https://github.com/thegenemyers/FASTK
Gfastats 1.3.6 https://github.com/vgl-hub/gfastats
GoaT CLI 0.2.5 https://github.com/genomehubs/goat-cli
Hifiasm 0.19.5-r587 https://github.com/chhylp123/hifiasm
HiGlass 44086069ee7d4d3f6f3f0012569789ec138f42b84aa44357826c0b6753eb28de https://github.com/higlass/higlass
MerquryFK d00d98157618f4e8d1a9190026b19b471055b22e https://github.com/thegenemyers/MERQURY.FK
Minimap2 2.24-r1122 https://github.com/lh3/minimap2
MitoHiFi 3 https://github.com/marcelauliano/MitoHiFi
MultiQC 1.14, 1.17, and 1.18 https://github.com/MultiQC/MultiQC
Nextflow 23.10.0 https://github.com/nextflow-io/nextflow
PretextView 0.2.5 https://github.com/sanger-tol/PretextView
purge_dups 1.2.5 https://github.com/dfguan/purge_dups
samtools 1.19.2 https://github.com/samtools/samtools
sanger-tol/ascc - https://github.com/sanger-tol/ascc
sanger-tol/blobtoolkit 0.6.0 https://github.com/sanger-tol/blobtoolkit
Seqtk 1.3 https://github.com/lh3/seqtk
Singularity 3.9.0 https://github.com/sylabs/singularity
TreeVal 1.2.0 https://github.com/sanger-tol/treeval
YaHS 1.2a.2 https://github.com/c-zhou/yahs

Wellcome Sanger Institute – Legal and Governance

The materials that have contributed to this genome note have been supplied by a Darwin Tree of Life Partner. The submission of materials by a Darwin Tree of Life Partner is subject to the ‘Darwin Tree of Life Project Sampling Code of Practice’, which can be found in full on the Darwin Tree of Life website here. By agreeing with and signing up to the Sampling Code of Practice, the Darwin Tree of Life Partner agrees they will meet the legal and ethical requirements and standards set out within this document in respect of all samples acquired for, and supplied to, the Darwin Tree of Life Project.

Further, the Wellcome Sanger Institute employs a process whereby due diligence is carried out proportionate to the nature of the materials themselves, and the circumstances under which they have been/are to be collected and provided for use. The purpose of this is to address and mitigate any potential legal and/or ethical implications of receipt and use of the materials as part of the research project, and to ensure that in doing so we align with best practice wherever possible. The overarching areas of consideration are:

•   Ethical review of provenance and sourcing of the material

•   Legality of collection, transfer and use (national and international)

Each transfer of samples is further undertaken according to a Research Collaboration Agreement or Material Transfer Agreement entered into by the Darwin Tree of Life Partner, Genome Research Limited (operating as the Wellcome Sanger Institute), and in some circumstances other Darwin Tree of Life collaborators.

Funding Statement

This work was supported by Wellcome through core funding to the Wellcome Sanger Institute (220540) and the Darwin Tree of Life Discretionary Award [218328, <a href=https://doi.org/10.35802/218328>https://doi.org/10.35802/218328 </a>].

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

[version 1; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations]

Data availability

European Nucleotide Archive: Globicephala melas (long-finned pilot whale). Accession number PRJEB64971; https://identifiers.org/ena.embl/PRJEB64971. The genome sequence is released openly for reuse. The Globicephala melas genome sequencing initiative is part of the Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) project. All raw sequence data and the assembly have been deposited in INSDC databases. Raw data and assembly accession identifiers are reported in Table 1 and Table 2.

Author information

Members of the Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Management, Samples and Laboratory team are listed here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12162482.

Members of Wellcome Sanger Institute Scientific Operations: Sequencing Operations are listed here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12165051.

Members of the Wellcome Sanger Institute Tree of Life Core Informatics team are listed here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12160324.

Members of the Tree of Life Core Informatics collective are listed here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12205391.

Members of the Darwin Tree of Life Consortium are listed here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4783558.

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Wellcome Open Res. 2025 Apr 19. doi: 10.21956/wellcomeopenres.26388.r122148

Reviewer response for version 1

Janke Axel 1

Peer Review Comments -  MAJOR REVISION

This manuscript presents a genome report which, while lacking a specific biological research question, provides a technically sound account of genome sequencing, assembly, and annotation. The work is professionally conducted, and the methodology is mostly described with sufficient clarity.

However, several important aspects are either missing or require further elaboration to ensure the study's utility for the broader community, particularly for those working on similar non-model or degraded samples.

1. DNA and RNA Quality Assessment:

There is no information provided on the quality or integrity of the extracted DNA. Given that the sample appear to originate from a naturally deceased animal, with an unknown post-mortem interval, this is of critical importance. Please include the Femto-Pulse report or equivalent data showing DNA fragment size distribution. This information is vital to assess the potential limitations of the assembly and to inform future efforts involving similarly compromised material. The same applies to the RNA quality: please provide fragment length distribution and RIN-like metrics for evaluation of transcript integrity. These details are partcularly valuable when fresh or high-quality material is not available.

2. Blob Plot Interpretation:

The Blob plot reveals a number of non-target sequences, likely corresponding to bacterial or fungal contamination. While such findings are not unexpected given the possible post-mortem degradation, the manuscript should briefly elaborate on the origin, taxonomy, and abundance of these non-mammalian sequences. It would be helpful to state whether these were filtered prior to assembly or if any were incorporated into scaffolds. This information may help guide decontamination strategies in similar projects.

3. Sample Context and Decay Estimate:

To support the interpretation of the data, please provide an estimate—however approximate—of how long the individual had been deceased prior to sampling. Environmental context (e.g., temperature, exposure, humidity) should also be described to the best of the authors’ knowledge. This would help frame the state of preservation and assist others in evaluating feasibility for related work using non-ideal specimens.

4. Chromosome-Specific Concerns (Chromosome 6):

The heatmap corresponding to the sixth(?) chromosome suggests structural anomalies or misassemblies. Please describe whether any steps were taken investigate or correct these issues (e.g., manual curation, re-scaffolding, use of alternative data types). If no specific action was taken, please clarify why. Similarly, assemblies not in the heatmap should be briefly addressed: were they omitted due to quality, completeness, or other reasons? Even a short rationale would be appreciated.

5. Background Section:

The current background is overly detailed relative to the scope of the manuscript. As no biological analyses or questions are pursued, it would be preferable to reduce this section to the essential taxonomic and minimal biological context required to understand the importance of the project.

Conclusion:

While the manuscript lacks any biological hypothesis (read: it is boring), it still holds potential value for the community, especially as a reference for genome sequencing from compromised material. By addressing the issues above, the manuscript will be significantly improved and maybe more useful except for another genome . Still, I am looking forward to seeing it indexed.

Are sufficient details of methods and materials provided to allow replication by others?

Partly

Is the rationale for creating the dataset(s) clearly described?

Partly

Are the datasets clearly presented in a useable and accessible format?

Partly

Are the protocols appropriate and is the work technically sound?

Partly

Reviewer Expertise:

Translational Biodiversity Genomics

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

Wellcome Open Res. 2025 Apr 19. doi: 10.21956/wellcomeopenres.26388.r122154

Reviewer response for version 1

Takushi Kishida 1

This study provides a high-quality chromosomal-level long-finnedpilot whale haploid genome assembly. I have no complaints about the quality of this genome data.

I hope, if possible, the authors deposit the specimen used for genome sequencing in an appropriate museum so that a vouchered specimen associated with this genome data is available.

Are sufficient details of methods and materials provided to allow replication by others?

Yes

Is the rationale for creating the dataset(s) clearly described?

Yes

Are the datasets clearly presented in a useable and accessible format?

Yes

Are the protocols appropriate and is the work technically sound?

Yes

Reviewer Expertise:

evolutioary genomics, population genetics

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard.

Wellcome Open Res. 2025 Apr 18. doi: 10.21956/wellcomeopenres.26388.r122151

Reviewer response for version 1

Isabella M Reeves 1

This manuscript is an exciting contribution to our field, providing a high-quality genome assembly of the long-finned pilot whale for future research to use. The introduction, which covers the natural history of pilot whales, was particularly engaging.

One suggestion I would like to offer is the inclusion of more detailed information regarding the software and tools used during the genome assembly process. Specifically, it would be beneficial to provide the versions of the software employed, as well as additional details on the parameters/thresholds used throughout the assembly.

Are sufficient details of methods and materials provided to allow replication by others?

Partly

Is the rationale for creating the dataset(s) clearly described?

Yes

Are the datasets clearly presented in a useable and accessible format?

Yes

Are the protocols appropriate and is the work technically sound?

Yes

Reviewer Expertise:

Evolution, genomics, marine mammals, ecology

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard.

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Data Availability Statement

    European Nucleotide Archive: Globicephala melas (long-finned pilot whale). Accession number PRJEB64971; https://identifiers.org/ena.embl/PRJEB64971. The genome sequence is released openly for reuse. The Globicephala melas genome sequencing initiative is part of the Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) project. All raw sequence data and the assembly have been deposited in INSDC databases. Raw data and assembly accession identifiers are reported in Table 1 and Table 2.


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