Mountain hare

The mountain hare is an iconic northern species adapted to snowy winter conditions and serves as a sentinel species for climate change. Photo by Mervi Kunnasranta.

The reference genome of the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) was sequenced and assembled from a male individual originating from Ilomantsi, Finland. The genome has a total length of 2.695 billion base pairs and consists of 23 autosomes as well as the X and Y sex chromosomes. It contains 23,778 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.