European brown hare

A representative male brown hare. Photo by Mervi Kunnasranta.

The reference genome of the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) was sequenced and assembled from a male individual originating from Liperi, Finland. The genome has a total length of 2.93 billion base pairs and consists of 23 autosomes as well as the X and Y sex chromosomes. It contains 21,467 genes.

The genome has been published and is available for exploration in the NCBI Genome database. A more detailed description of the genome assembly has been published in the PCI Genomics journal.

The reference genomes of the European brown hare and the mountain hare are key resources for research on these species. Hare research conducted at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland makes extensive use of genomic data in both population genetic studies and experimental research.