High Quality Chromosomal Level Genome Assembly of Guizotia abyssinica

Guizotia abyssinica (L.f) Cass (niger) is an important edible oilseed crop predominantly cultivated in Ethiopia and India. This study presents a high quality chromosomal-level reference genome of niger from India which represents the secondary centre of diversity. Owing to the highly cross pollinated nature of the crop due to strong gametophytic incompatibility, double haploid plants of niger (Cv. JNS-9) were produced through anther culture and subjected to sequencing. The continuous genome assembly along with the organellar genomes was achieved through a combination of long-read PacBio HiFi sequencing and Hi-C sequencing. The total assembled genome size is ~3.47 Gb accounting for ~ 99% of the predicted genome size and demonstrates high contiguity and completeness with contig N50 value of 187.4Mb and achieving 99.1%. BUSCO recovery. About 2.85 Gb of the assembled genome is anchored on 15 chromosomes conforming to the linkage groups of the crop with clearly distinguished telomeres and centromeres. The size of the chloroplast and mitochondrial assemblies is 151 kb and 311 kb, respectively. The raw sequencing data, genome assembly and annotation files have been deposited in the public database repositories to facilitate access and downstream applications. The present assembly provides the first-ever high quality genome assembly reported globally providing a foundational genomic resource for functional genomics, marker development, comparative genomics and breeding applications in niger.