# Manual curation for improved genome annotation of the functionally extinct northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni)

## TL;DR

Scientists improved the genome annotation of the northern white rhinoceros to help future research on this functionally extinct species.

## Contribution

Manual curation increased gene numbers by 81% in the northern white rhinoceros genome annotation.

## Key findings

- RNA sequencing and de novo transcript assembly identified nucleotide gene sequences.
- Manual curation significantly improved genome annotation accuracy and gene count.
- The improved annotation facilitates transcriptional studies in the species.

## Abstract

The northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) genome and annotation were previously published, but the annotation contained few genes, with many annotation misalignments, and nomenclature not matching HGNC/VGNC naming conventions, making transcriptional studies very difficult. We used in vivo collected granulosa cells for RNA sequencing and de novo transcript assembly through StringTie to identify all nucleotide gene sequences in our samples. Through extensive manual curation we were able to generate a greatly improved genome annotation, increasing gene numbers by 81%. This will greatly enable researchers in this field to utilize the genome and annotation to complete transcriptional studies with this species.