Samples from avian species of high conservation concern are often low in total genomic DNA (gDNA). Feathers are collected more frequently than blood, yet they contain low total gDNA which can present challenges in using them for genomics. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) can provide many insights that can be used to aid in species conservation, but current methods for working with feathers are cost prohibitive for population level genomic analyses. Thus, there is a need for a cost-effective method of preparing WGS libraries from feathers. To bridge the gap between sampling techniques commonly used in avian conservation genetics that yield low total gDNA and the powerful tool of WGS, we developed a method that successfully produces WGS libraries from feather gDNA with as low input as 0.48 ng of DNA and an average final library size of 300–500 base pairs. Sequencing results suggest high sequencing quality using our protocol with feather DNA. We conclude that our method will facilitate high-throughput WGS on low total gDNA samples, like feathers, thus expanding the power of genomic tools in critical avian conservation research.

来自高度保护关注的鸟类样本的总基因组 DNA (gDNA) 含量通常较低。羽毛的采集频率高于血液，但它们所含的总 gDNA 含量较低，这对将它们用于基因组学提出了挑战。全基因组测序 (WGS) 可以提供许多可用于帮助物种保护的见解，但目前处理羽毛的方法对于种群水平的基因组分析来说成本过高。因此，需要一种经济高效的方法来从羽毛中制备 WGS 文库。为了弥合鸟类保护遗传学中常用的产生低总 gDNA 的采样技术与 WGS 的强大工具之间的差距，我们开发了一种方法，可以从输入低至 0 的羽毛 gDNA 成功生成 WGS 文库。48 ng DNA 和平均最终文库大小为 300–500 个碱基对。测序结果表明使用我们的羽毛 DNA 协议具有很高的测序质量。我们的结论是，我们的方法将有助于对低总 gDNA 样本（如羽毛）进行高通量 WGS，从而扩大基因组工具在关键鸟类保护研究中的作用。