Chromosome-level Genome Assembly and Sex-specific Differential Transcriptome of the White-backed Planthopper, Sogatella furcifera.

Abstract

The white-backed planthopper (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera, causes great damage to many crops (mainly rice) by direct feeding or transmitting plant viruses. The previous genome assembly was generated by second-generation sequencing technologies, with a contig N50 of only 51.5 kb, and contained a lot of heterozygous sequences. We utilized third-generation sequencing technologies and Hi-C data to generate a high-quality chromosome-level assembly. We also provide a large amount of transcriptome data for full-length transcriptome analysis and gender differential expression analysis. The final assembly comprised 56.38 Mb, with a contig N50 of 2.20 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 45.25 Mb. Fourteen autosomes and one X chromosome were identified. More than 99.5% of the assembled bases located on the 15 chromosomes. 95.9% of the complete BUSCO Hemiptera genes were detected in the final assembly and 16,880 genes were annotated. 722 genes were relatively highly expressed in males, while 60 in the females. The integrated genome, definite sex chromosomes, comprehensive transcriptome profiles, high efficiency of RNA interference and short life cycle substantially made WBPH an efficient research object for functional genomics.