Metagenomic data for Halichondria panicea from Illumina and Nanopore sequencing and preliminary genome assemblies for the sponge and two microbial symbionts

Objectives These data were collected to generate a novel reference metagenome for the sponge Halichondria panicea and its microbiome for subsequent differential expression analyses.

Data description These data include raw sequences from four separate sequencing runs of the metagenome of a single individual of Halichondria panicea - one Illumina MiSeq (2×300 bp, paired-end) run and three Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) long-read sequencing runs, generating 53.8 and 7.42 Gbp respectively. Comparing assemblies of Illumina, ONT and an Illumina-ONT hybrid revealed the hybrid to be the ‘best’ assembly, comprising 163 Mbp in 63,555 scaffolds (N50: 3,084). This assembly, however, was still highly fragmented and only contained 52% of core metazoan genes (with 77.9% partial genes), so it was also not complete.

However, this sponge is an emerging model species for field and laboratory work, and there is considerable interest in genomic sequencing of this species. Although the resultant assemblies from the data presented here are suboptimal, this data note can inform future studies by providing an estimated genome size and coverage requirements for future sequencing, sharing additional data to potentially improve other suboptimal assemblies of this species, and outlining potential limitations and pitfalls of the combined Illumina and ONT approach to novel genome sequencing.