A chromosome-level genome assembly of the Chinese tupelo Nyssa sinensis

Abstract

The deciduous Chinese tupelo (Nyssa sinensis Oliv.) is a popular ornamental tree for the spectacular autumn leaf color. Here, using single-molecule sequencing and chromosome conformation capture data, we report a high-quality, chromosome-level genome assembly of N. sinensis. PacBio long reads were de novo assembled into 647 polished contigs with a total length of 1,001.42 megabases (Mb) and an N50 size of 3.62 Mb, which is in line with genome sizes estimated using flow cytometry and the k-mer analysis. These contigs were further clustered and ordered into 22 pseudo-chromosomes based on Hi-C data, matching the chromosome counts in Nyssa obtained from previous cytological studies. In addition, a total of 664.91 Mb of repetitive elements were identified and a total of 37,884 protein-coding genes were predicted in the genome of N. sinensis. All data were deposited in publicly available repositories, and should be a valuable resource for genomics, evolution, and conservation biology.