A chromosome-level haplotype-resolved genome assembly of Helicoverpa assulta

Oriental tobacco budworm (Helicoverpa assulta) and cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) are closely related species within the Helicoverpa genus. They have similar appearances and can only be distinguished in their adult stage. Their feeding habits and damage patterns are consistent, often leading to confusion. However, the significant difference between them lies in their preferred diets. The cotton bollworm is a typical polyphagous insect, while the oriental tobacco budworm belongs to the oligophagous insects. In this study, we used Nanopore, PacBio, and Illumina platforms to sequence the genome of the tobacco cutworm. We assembled the draft genome using Hifiasm, and the Hi-C technique helped anchor 33 contigs to 32 chromosomes; sex chromosomes Z and W are also included. The final haploid genome assembly was approximately 415.19?Mb in length. BUSCO analysis revealed a high degree of completeness, with 99.0% gene coverage in this genome assembly. The repeat sequences accounted for 38.39% of the genome assembly, and we annotated 17093 protein-coding genes.