The Chinese rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta lasiota) is a subspecies of rhesus macaques that mainly resides in western and central China. Due to their anatomical and physiological similarity with human beings, macaques are a common laboratory model. Also, as several macaques species have been sequenced, such as the Indian rhesus macaque and the crab-eating macaque, examination of the Chinese rhesus macaque (CR) genome offers interesting insights into the entire Macaca genus.The DNA sample for data sequencing and analyses was obtained from a five-year old female CR from southwestern China. The genome was sequenced on the IlluminaGAIIx platform, from which 142-Gb of high-quality sequence, representing 47-fold genome coverage for CR. The total size of the assembled CR genome was about 2.84 Gb, providing 47-fold on average. Scaffolds were assigned to the chromosomes according to the synteny displayed with the Indian rhesus macaque and human genome sequences. About 97% of the CR scaffolds could be placed onto chromosomes.

The crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis), also known as the Java macaque or long-tailed macaque, is a species of primate located throughout Southeast Asia. Due to the frequent usage of the genus Macaca in scientific research, the sequence the crab-eating macaque furthers our understanding on how it differs from other macaque species, like the Chinese rhesus macaque and the Indian rhesus macaque. This is especially relevant considering the recent trend of using crab-eating macaque (CE) and Chinese rhesus macaques rather than the Indian rhesus macaque as laboratory models.The DNA sample for genome sequencing and analyses was from a female CE that was a captive-bred descendent of a CE from Vietnam. The genome was sequenced on the IlluminaGAIIx platform, and we obtained 162-Gb of high-quality sequence, representing 54-fold coverage. The sequencing data were processed with Illumina custom computational pipelines. The genome was de novo assembled using SOAPdenovo program based on the de Bruijn graph algorithm methods. The total size of the assembled genome was about 2.85 Gb, providing 54-fold coverage on average. The scaffolds were assigned to the chromosomes according to the synteny displayed with the Indian rhesus macaque and human genome sequences. About 92% of the CE scaffolds could be placed onto chromosomes.