The tea plant reference genome and improved gene annotation using long-read and paired-end sequencing data

Tea
is a globally consumed non-alcohol beverage with great economic importance. Lacking
of the reference genome has largely hampered the utilization of the precious tea
plant genetic resources towards breeding. To address this, we generated a
high-quality reference genome of tea plant using Illumina and PacBio sequencing
technology that totally produced 2,124 Gb (~700-fold coverage) short and 125 Gb
(~41-fold) long read data, respectively. We employed a hybrid strategy to
assemble the genome that has been publicly released. We here described the data
framework used to generate, annotate and validate the genome assembly. Besides,
we re-predicted the protein-coding genes and annotated their putative functions
using more complete omics datasets and improved training models. We reassessed
the assembly and annotation quality using the latest version of BUSCO. These data
can be used to develop new methodologies/tools for better assembly of complex genomes,
aid in finding of novel genes, variations and evolutionary clues associated
with tea quality, and thus help to breed new varieties with high yields and
quality in the future.