instaGRAAL: chromosome-level quality scaffolding of genomes using a proximity ligation-based scaffolder
Lyam Baudry, Nadège Guiglielmoni, Hervé Marie-Nelly, Alexandre Cormier, Martial Marbouty, Komlan Avia, Yann Loe-Mie, Olivier Godfroy, Lieven Sterck, J. Mark Cock, Christophe Zimmer, Susana M. Coelho, Romain Koszul
Abstract
Hi-C exploits contact frequencies between pairs of loci to bridge and order contigs during genome assembly, resulting in chromosome-level assemblies. Because few robust programs are available for this type of data, we developed instaGRAAL, a complete overhaul of the GRAAL program, which has adapted the latter to allow efficient assembly of large genomes. instaGRAAL features a number of improvements over GRAAL, including a modular correction approach that optionally integrates independent data. We validate the program using data for two brown algae, and human, to generate near-complete assemblies with minimal human intervention.