Figure 2

G-quadruplex (G4) motifs are abundant in salp genomes and other tunicate species with alternating sexual and asexual reproductive modes. (A) G4 motifs are abundant throughout the genomes of S. thompsoni (pink) and S. aspera (green). Plot shows density of G4 sequences for each contig comprising each genome assembly. (B) Comparison of genome percentage of G4 motifs (black dot) among tunicate species shows they are abundant in tunicates with both sexual and asexual reproductive life cycles (grey box and purple bars) versus those that solely perform sexual reproduction (blue bars), independent of genome assembly fragmentation. Bars represent the number of contigs in the assembly.