A chromosome-level reference genome of the hazelnut, Corylus heterophylla Fisch

Corylus heterophylla Fisch. is a species of the Betulaceae family native to China. As an economically and ecologically important nut tree, C. heterophylla can survive in extremely low temperatures (-30 to -40 °C). To deepen our knowledge of the Betulaceae species and facilitate the use of C. heterophylla for breeding and its genetic improvement, we have sequenced the whole genome of C. heterophylla.

Based on >64.99 Gb (∼175.30×) of Nanopore long reads, we assembled a 370.75-Mb C. heterophylla genome with contig N50 and scaffold N50 sizes of 2.07 and 31.33  Mb, respectively, accounting for 99.23% of the estimated genome size (373.61 Mb). Furthermore, 361.90 Mb contigs were anchored to 11 chromosomes using Hi-C link data, representing 97.61% of the assembled genome sequences. Transcriptomes representing 4 different tissues were sequenced to assist protein-coding gene prediction. A total of 27,591 protein-coding genes were identified, of which 92.02% (25,389) were functionally annotated. The phylogenetic analysis showed that C. heterophylla is close to Ostrya japonica, and they diverged from their common ancestor ∼52.79 million years ago.

We generated a high-quality chromosome-level genome of C. heterophylla. This genome resource will promote research on the molecular mechanisms of how the hazelnut responds to environmental stresses and serves as an important resource for genome-assisted improvement in cold and drought resistance of the Corylus genus.