Reference Genome Assembly of Dendrophthoe pentandra

Dendrophthoe pentandra (Loranthaceae) is a widespread hemiparasitic mistletoe in Indonesia. Despite its parasitic nature, it holds ecological and medicinal importance. However, genomic resources for this species are extremely limited. To address this gap, we performed de novo assembly of the whole genome of D. pentandra using Illumina short-read sequencing. High-quality genomic DNA was extracted, and reads were assembled using optimized pipelines for plant genomes. Scaffolding, polishing, and completeness assessment (via BUSCO) were carried out, followed by automated gene annotation. This draft genome offers a valuable reference for investigating parasitic mechanisms, host interaction genes, and evolutionary adaptation in Santalales. It lays the groundwork for future studies in transcriptomics, population genomics, and conservation of this ecologically significant species.