A High-Quality Genome Assembly for Giant Squid

Although one of the largest invertebrates, the giant squid (Architeuthis dux) is an animal shrouded in mystery. Known principally from decaying carcasses washed up on beaches, or occasionally whale regurgitates, there are few high quality tissue sources available for genetic analyses. Nevertheless, those samples that do exist represent one of the few resources available for biologists that wish to learn more about this cryptic organism. In 2010 a genome project was started with the aim of providing a new resource for both giant squid biologists and those interested in cephalopods in general. Following a global search to find a sample with high enough quality DNA, an initial attempt was made using standard Illumina PE and Mate Pair libraries, although we were unable to generate a high quality assembly. Subsequent collaboration with Dovetail Genomics has, however, significantly improved the assembly, and as such we are now in a position to address a range of questions relating to this creature of the deep.