Complete genome assembly of flowering cherry Cerasus speciosa

Sakura, flowering cherry (genus Cerasus or Prunus), is renowned for its remarkably diverse and beautiful blossoms and is one of Japanese national flowers. It is considered that there are ten wild flowering cherry species in Japanese archipelago, from which a variety of cultivated strains have been established. Among these wild flowering cherry species, we have conducted whole genome sequencing of Cerasus speciosa, thought to be originated in Izu-Oshima island. With the cooperation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, we conducted whole genome sequencing of the "Sakurakkabu", a special natural monument regarded as the oldest flowering cherry tree on the Izu-Oshima island. In this analysis, we utilized complete genome assembly using PacBio Hifi reads and Illumina short reads. Our analysis has successfully resulted in a gapless, telomere-to-telomere complete genome sequence assembly. Our findings are expected to significantly accelerate future research on flowering cherry and the Rosaceae family. This dataset was used for the creation of the complete genome sequence.