title: Low coverage sequencing of three echinoderm genomes: the brittle star Ophionereis fasciata, the sea star Patiriella regularis, and the sea cucumber Australostichopus mollis.
abstract: There are five major extant groups of Echinodermata: Crinoidea (feather stars and sea lillies), Ophiuroidea (brittle stars and basket stars), Asteroidea (sea stars), Echinoidea (sea urchins, sea biscuits, and sand dollars), and Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers). These animals are known for their pentaradial symmetry as adults, unique water vascular system, mutable collagenous tissues, and endoskeletons of high magnesium calcite. To our knowledge, the only echinoderm species with a genome sequence available to date is Strongylocentrotus pupuratus (Echinoidea). The availability of additional echinoderm genome sequences is crucial for understanding the biology of these animals.
  
  
  
  Here we present assembled draft genomes of the brittle star Ophionereis fasciata, the sea star Patiriella regularis, and the sea cucumber Australostichopus mollis from Illumina sequence data with coverages of 12.5x, 22.5x, and 21.4x, respectively.
  
  
  
  These data provide a resource for mining gene superfamilies, identifying non-coding RNAs, confirming gene losses, and designing experimental constructs. They will be important comparative resources for future genomic studies in echinoderms.
authors.affiliation: Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, 9505 Ocean Shore Blvd., St Augustine, FL 32080 USA.
authors.forename: Kyle A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892 USA.
authors.forename: Carlos W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Nossa
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Mary A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sewell
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892 USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Putnam
authors.affiliation: Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, 9505 Ocean Shore Blvd., St Augustine, FL 32080 USA ; Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-8525 USA.
authors.forename: Joseph F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020451:Contig Mapping / Q000379:methods; D004447:Echinodermata / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D016678:Genome; D008297:Male; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D012616:Sea Cucumbers / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D013215:Starfish / Q000235:genetics
keywords: Brittle star; Echinoderms; Genome; Sea cucumber; Sea star