A novel assembly pipeline and functional annotations for targeted sequencing: A case study on the globally threatened Margaritiferidae (Bivalvia: Unionida)

Abstract

The proliferation of genomic sequencing approaches has significantly impacted the field of phylogenetics. Target capture approaches provide a cost‐effective, fast and easily applied strategy for phylogenetic inference of non‐model organisms. However, several existing target capture processing pipelines are incapable of incorporating whole genome sequencing (WGS). Here, we develop a new pipeline for capture and de novo assembly of the targeted regions using whole genome re‐sequencing reads. This new pipeline captured targeted loci accurately, and given its unbiased nature, can be used with any target capture probe set. Moreover, due to its low computational demand, this new pipeline may be ideal for users with limited resources and when high‐coverage sequencing outputs are required. We demonstrate the utility of our approach by incorporating WGS data into the first comprehensive phylogenomic reconstruction of the freshwater mussel family Margaritiferidae. We also provide a catalogue of well‐curated functional annotations of these previously uncharacterized freshwater mussel‐specific target regions, representing a complementary tool for scrutinizing phylogenetic inferences while expanding future applications of the probe set.