Welcome

Welcome to the caribou genome website. This site provides a BLAST utility for searching the caribou (Rangifer tarandus) genome and a download section containing the genome data. As new versions of the genome become available, the website will be updated.

Rangifer tarandus, known as caribou or reindeer, are a widespread circumpolar species presenting significant variability in their morphology, ecology and genetics. The genome was sequenced from a male boreal caribou (R. t. caribou) from Manitoba, Canada (North American Lineage). Both paired end and Chicago libraries were constructed and sequenced on Illumina platforms, and the final assembly consists of approximately 2.205 Gb. This high-quality reference genome will be invaluable for evolutionary research and for conservation efforts for the species.

Sequencing of the whole genome was a collaboration between Dovetail Genomics, Trent University, McMaster University and Environment and Climate Change Canada. We would like to acknowledge our funders including Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Manitoba Hydro, SaskPower Inc., and Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd. We are thankful to the facilities of the Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET: www.sharcnet.ca) and Compute Canada/ Calcul Canada for high-performance computing services. The tissue sample was provided by Dale Cross and Kent Whaley, Manitoba Sustainable Development.