Chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation of the emblematic silver-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima Jameson, 1901

The silver-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima, is an iconic bivalve
farmed in tropical Australia and South-east Asia to produce high valued
South Sea pearls. Here, we present the first high-quality,
chromosome-level reference genome of P. maxima. The final genome assembly
has a total size of 1.27 Gb, with a scaffold N50 length of 209.20 Mb.
Using high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technology,
we have anchored 80.99% of the assembly to 14 chromosomes. The BUSCO
analysis revealed a high level of accuracy and completeness, identifying
87.9% (n = 4,658) of conserved metazoan genes, which exceeds the average
completeness of 79.2% reported for other mollusc genomes sequenced and
annotated to date. The assembly includes 62.79% repeat elements (809 Mb),
and gene annotation predicted 25,752 protein-coding genes. This genomic
resource offers a powerful tool for unraveling the molecular mechanisms
underlying pearl formation and facilitating continued research into the
evolutionary biology of pearl oysters worldwide.