Reviewer's report

The authors present a genomic resource for the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). It will be of value to translational and evolution researches. The wet and dry lab approaches used in the study sound fair. The datasets are informative for the next-step annotation of marmoset genome. I only have a few minor questions.

Major Compulsory Revisions

NONE

Minor Essential Revisions

1. Since the draft version of the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) assembly has recently been published (Nature Genet 2014, 46:850–857), I suppose the authors can give a genome-guided assembly first and then de novo assembly.

2. In primate cladogram, marmoset is much closer to rhesus than to human beings. In addition, rhesus is well-annotated in genome and transcriptome. Why did the authors search marmoset transcripts against human orthologs?

3. For the Venn plot between Ensembl and de novo transcript annotations, it is better to provide an enrichment test (Fisher Exact test) and fold enrichment of the assembled transcriptome.

Discretionary Revisions

1. Although the authors claimed that the samples were euthanized due to illness unrelated to the study, more information might be needed for other studies. For example, when transcriptomes are compared among different species, many factors should be considered/normalized (physiological states, gender, age, etc.). I hope more detailed descriptions of the datasets.

Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely related research interests

Quality of written English: Acceptable

Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a statistician.

Declaration of competing interests: I declare that I have no competing interests.