Dr. Wendy Reed

The laughing gull genome is estimated to be similar in size to that of the Common Tern (its closest sequenced relative), which is around 1.2 billion bases. High Molecular Weight DNA was isolated and sequenced on two PacBio Sequel SMRT cells. Long circular consensus reads will be assembled using a long read assembler that can handle PacBio data (eg. Canu).

RNA-seq data will also be collected for annotation. Laughing gull brain and liver tissue will be used from a subset of experimentally manipulated eggs. A total of 48 samples will be sequenced, both the brain and liver from the following experimental groups: 6 female early, 6 female late, 6 male early, 6 male late (early/late refers to seasonality).