Loxodonta africana (African bush elephant) genome, mLoxAfr1, sequence data
The African elephants (Loxodonta) are a genus comprising two living species, the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the smaller African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Both are social herbivores with grey skin, but differ in the size and color of their tusks and in the shape and size of their ears and skulls. Both species are at heavy risk of extinction, where as of 2021, the bush elephant is endangered and the forest elephant is critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List (modified from Wikipedia entry). This sample of Loxodonta africana was collected from a male calf born in Louisville Kentucky Zoo, the endothelial cells derived from the umbilical cord by Virginia Pearson, cultured by Austin Bow and Xochitl Ambriz Pena, and coordinated by Eriona Hysolli, Austin Bow, Sara Ord, and Ben Lamm of Colossal Biosciences and Kathleen Horan of Rockefeller University. The cultured cells were used to create a high-quality reference genome for Colossal Biosciences mammoth project and the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP). Sequencing and genome assembly were conducted at the Vertebrate Genomes Lab (VGL) at the Rockefeller University, led by Olivier Fedrigo and Erich D. Jarvis.