Long-read sequencing and de novo assembly of the cynomolgus macaque genome

Cynomolgus macaques(Macaca fascicularis)belong to the genus Macaca.They are the most widespread nonhuman primate(NHP)and share a common ancestor with humans from about 25 million years ago(Kumar and Hedges,1998).Because of their phylogenetic proximity to humans,macaques are an attractive NHP research model for a wide range of biomedical research(Yan et al.,2011).The extensive distribution of cynomolgus macaques throughout South East Asia(Shiina and Blancher,2019)and its unique pheno-types including year-round reproductive capability,moderate size,complex behaviors,and similarity to humans in physiology and pa-thology(Ma et al.,2016)make it a superior option for biological studies.During recent decades,cynomolgus macaques have been used increasingly,accelerating progress in several research fields,including development and reproduction(Tan et al.,2021),stem cell therapy(Guo and Li,2015),disease model construction and genome editing(Chen et al.,2017),immunotherapies(Iwasaki et al.,2019),and degenerative diseases and aging(Verdier et al.,2015).