Caloenas nicobarica (Nicobar pigeon) genome, bCalNic1, sequence data
The Nicobar pigeon or Nicobar dove (Caloenas nicobarica) is a bird found on small islands and in coastal regions from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, east through the Indonesian Archipelago, to the Solomons and Palau. It is the only living member of the genus Caloenas alongside and is the closest living relative of the extinct dodo bird (modified from Wikipedia entry). This sample is from a female collected by Charles Alex at the Bronx Zoo, coordinated by Beth Shapiro and Kathleen Horan, and supported by Colossal BioSciences, to be used to generate a high-quality reference genome and transcriptome for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP) and Colossal's de-extinction projects. Sequencing and genome assembly were conducted at the Vertebrate Genomes Lab (VGL) at the Rockefeller University, led by Erich D. Jarvis, Giulio Formenti, and Jennifer Balacco