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. 2024 Jan 24;11(1):117.
doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-02990-1.

Chromosome-level genome assembly of the giant ladybug Megalocaria dilatata

De-Qiang Pu  1 , Xing-Long Wu  2 , Zhi-Teng Chen  3 , Shu-Jun Wei  4 , Peng Cai  5 , Hong-Ling Liu  6
Affiliations

Chromosome-level genome assembly of the giant ladybug Megalocaria dilatata

De-Qiang Pu et al. Sci Data. .

Abstract

The giant ladybug Megalocaria dilatata (Fabricius) is a potential biocontrol agent and a valuable model for coccinellid genomics and evolutionary biology. However, the lack of a reference genome for M. dilatata has impeded further explorations into its evolution and constrained its use in pest management. Here, we assembled and annotated a high-quality, chromosome-level genome of M. dilatata. The resulting assembly spans 772.3 Mb, with a scaffold N50 of 72.48 Mb and a GC content of 34.23%. The Hi-C data aided in anchoring the assembly onto 10 chromosomes ranging from 43.35 to 108.16 Mb. We identified 493.33 Mb of repeat sequences, accounting for 63.88% of the assembled genome. Our gene prediction identified 25,346 genes, with 81.89% annotated in public protein databases. The genome data will provide a valuable resource for studying the biology and evolution of Coccinellidae, aiding in pest control strategies and advancing research in the field.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Summary of the final genome assembly results of Megalocaria dilatata. (a) Photos of M. dilatata. (b) The K-mer distribution of Illumina paired-end reads using GenomeScope based on a k value of 19. (c) A Circos atlas of the chromosomal genome of M. dilatata. From the outside to inside rings: (A) Chromosome ideograms (Mb scale); (B) Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) density; (C) Insertion or deletion (INDEL) density; (D) PCG density; (E) GC content. Window size = 500 kb. Syntenic blocks are depicted by connected lines.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Genome‐wide Hi‐C heatmap for Megalocaria dilatata showing interactions among the 10 chromosomes. The number of log2 links was calculated. The color bar indicates the frequency of Hi‐C interaction links from yellow (low) to dark (high) in the plot.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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