A Genome Assembly of the North American Golden Eagle, Aquila Chrysaetos Canadensis

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is an apex predator across its Holarctic range. Although chromosome-level reference genome assemblies are available for two of the six golden eagle subspecies (European and Japanese), current assemblies for the North American subspecies (A. c. canadensis) were generated using short-read sequencing technology, limiting completeness, contiguity, and accuracy. Here we present a chromosome-length de novo genome assembly for a male A. c. canadensis as part of the California Conservation Genomics Project. We used Pacific Biosciences HiFi reads and Omni-C chromatin-proximity sequencing to produce a high-quality assembly consistent with the standard California Conservation Genomics Project reference genome protocol. Our assembly spans 1.28 Gbp and comprises 316 scaffolds with a scaffold N50 of 47.3 Mbp, a contig N50 of 30.3 Mbp, and a benchmarking universal single-copy ortholog completeness score of 97.4%. This reference genome assembly offers a valuable resource for delineating genomic variation and assessing conservation needs in golden eagle populations across California and its North American range more broadly.