Bursaphelenchus xylophilus Genome sequencing and assembly. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

Since pinewood nematode (PWN) was identified to be the causal agent for pine wilt disease in 1971, it has been isolated in growing number of countries and regions in Asia and Europe, posing a serious threat to forest ecosystems worldwide. In Mainland China, since its first identification in dying pine forests in the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province in 1980s, it has already invaded the majority of pines distribution regions. To identify the virulence related genes and explore the origin and genetic underpinning of invasiveness of PWN, we have sequenced and analyzed whole genomes of 55 PWN strains isolated in both native and affected regions and the closely-related species Bursaphelenchus mucronatus. These studies required a reference with both the assembly and genomic short reads, so we assembled one of the Chinese strain BxCN.