Annotation of the King Cobra and Indian Python genomes

The genomes of the snakes Ophiophagus Hannah (King Cobra) and Python Molurus (Indian Python) were recently sequenced, but are as yet un-annotated. We have set about to remedy this problem using MAKER, an easy-to-use genome annotation pipeline developed in the Yandell-lab. The Python genome is around 1.5gb in size; the current genome assembly has an N50 of 201,400bp; and consists of 448,617 scaffolds; the Cobra genome is 1.6gb in size and has an N50 of 225,511bp; and consists of 716,551 scaffolds. Thus, both genome assemblies are excellent targets for annotation. We ran MAKER using an evidence set for Cobra consisting of 94 ESTs, 57,257 RNA-seq reads, and a core set 677,295 proteins. For Python we used 69 ESTs, 349,423 RNA-seq reads and the same set of core proteins. When we submitted this abstract both MAKER genome runs were at 90% completion. The next steps will be to analyze gene contents based upon InterPro domain assignments, observe gene-family expansion/contraction along the two snake lineages, and work towards relating these findings and others to life-history traits.