Chromosome length genome assembly of the redbanded stink bug, Piezodorus guildinii (Westwood)

The redbanded stink bug (RBSB), Piezodorus guildinii (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is native to the Caribbean Basin and is currently considered an invasive pest in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas in the southern United States. Although RBSB is an economically important invasive pest in the USA, relatively few studies have been conducted to understand molecular mechanisms, population genetic structure, and the genetic basis of resistance to insecticides. The objective of this work was to obtain a high-quality genome assembly to develop genomic resources to conduct population genetic, genomic, and physiological studies of the RBSB.

The genome of RBSB was sequenced with Pacific Biosciences technology followed by two rounds of scaffolding using Chicago libraries and HiC proximity ligation to obtain a high-quality assembly. The genome assembly contained 800 scaffolds larger than 1 kbp and the N50 was 170.84 Mbp. The largest scaffold was 222.22 Mbp and 90% of the genome was included in the 7 scaffolds larger than 118 Mbp. The number of megabase scaffolds also matched the number of chromosomes in this insect. The genome sequence will facilitate the development of resources to conduct studies on genetics, transcriptomics, and physiology of RBSB.