A high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of the topmouth culter (Culter alburnus Basilewsky, 1855)

Culter alburnus is extensively distributed in various rivers and lakes across China. As a widely adaptive fish species, it has significant economic values and special ecological roles. To meet research demands and provide better genomic resources, in this research, a chromosome-level genome assembly was constructed using HiFi long-reads and Hi-C sequencing data. Compared with the published versions, our genome assembly is of higher quality with only 31 gaps and closer to its true structure and sequence. The genome size was 1.052 Gb, with a contig N50 of 32.92 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 43.09 Mb. 55 contigs were anchored to 24 chromosomes on the basis of Hi-C data. A total of 598.23 Mb of repetitive sequences were annotated and 28,228 protein-coding genes were predicted. Additionally, BUSCO assessment indicated assembly and annotation scores of 98.3% and 99.2%, respectively. This high-quality genome will provide scientific support for excavating the species characteristics of C. alburnus and exploring its molecular mechanisms in response to environmental changes and stress.