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.茶是一种全球广泛消费的非酒精饮品，具有极高的经济价值。此前茶树参考基因组的缺失，在很大程度上阻碍了宝贵茶树遗传资源在育种工作中的开发利用。为解决这一问题，我们依托Illumina和PacBio测序技术，生成了高质量的茶树参考基因组：分别获得了总计2124 Gb（约700倍覆盖度）的短读长测序数据，以及125 Gb（约41倍覆盖度）的长读长测序数据。我们采用混合组装策略完成该基因组的组装，并已将其公开发布。本文详述了用于该基因组组装、注释及验证的数据集框架。此外，我们借助更为完整的多组学数据集与优化后的训练模型，重新预测了蛋白质编码基因，并对其推定功能进行了注释。我们还采用最新版本的BUSCO（Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs）对基因组组装与注释质量进行了重新评估。本数据集可用于开发更高效的复杂基因组组装方法与工具，助力挖掘与茶叶品质相关的新型基因、遗传变异及进化线索，从而为未来培育高产优质茶树新品种提供支撑。