HiFi Long read sequencing of Diuraphis noxia

Diuraphis noxia (Russian wheat aphid) is a small grains pest that has spread to all wheat producing centres world wide. Resistance breeding has contained most damage, yet new biotypes (new populations that are able to overcome established resistance cultivars) keep on developing. As this pest reproduces mostly through obligate parthanogenesis in countries it spreads to, lack of sexual reproduction is believed to limit genetic diversity. This study aimed to firstly, improve the genome assembly contiguity of the initial assemblies by making use of HiFi CCS PacBio sequencing, and secondly to assemble multiple biotypes so as to facilitate genomic comparison to investigate wether any genomic adaptations may play a role in biotypification.