The genome of the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) are the largest reptilian species alive today and as the name suggests they shows a high tolerance to salinity. Native to much of Australasia and parts of Asia, they are found mostly in coastal waters or around rivers. They are strong swimmers and can be found very far from land. These data have been produced as part of the Crocodilian Genomes Project. Genomic DNA was isolated using blood from "Errol", a 4.65 meter long male, sampled on the 25th October 2007 at Darwin Crocodile Farm, Noonamah, Northern Territory, Australia. Errol was relocated from the wild (Mud Island, Daly River, Northern Territory) after being deemed a “problem crocodile” in 1981, where he was housed individually within a purpose-built facility in the tourist section of the farm. He currently resides at the Fort Worth Zoo, Texas, USA. Briefly, the crocodile data consisted of Illumina reads from three libraries ranging from 21.6 to 90.2x coverage. These reads were assembled using AllPaths-LG with default parameters. Legacy sequence data from 360 MHC region BAC assemblies as well as RNASeq data were used to aid the assembly.