Chromosome level draft genomes of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), an alien invasive pest in China

The fall armyworm (FAW), <i>Spodoptera frugiperda</i> (J.E. Smith) is a severely destructive pest native to the Americas, but has recently become an alien invasive species in Africa and Asia. With the very recent spread to China it has the potential to threaten food security and cause significant economic loss. To make effective management and control strategies, it is extremely useful to understand genomic architecture and its genetic background. In this work we have rapidly assembled two chromosome scale genomes of the fall armyworm, representing one male and one female individual procured from Yunnan province of China. The genome sizes were identified as 542.42 Mb with N50 of 14.16 Mb, and 530.77 Mb with N50 of 14.89 Mb for the male and female FAW, respectively. We predicted about 22,201 genes in the male genome. We found the expansion of cytochrome P450 and glutathione s-transferase gene families, which are functionally related to the intensified detoxification and pesticides tolerance. Further population analyses of corn strain (C strain) and rice strain (R strain) reveale that the Chinese fall armyworm has most likely invaded from Africa. This demographic information, genome features and possible invasion source described in this study should be extremely important for making effective strategies to manage the fall armyworms. And the data is being released here pre-publication to promote crowdsourcing and immediate utilisation to promote biocontrol strategies.