Chromosome level genome and full length transcriptome of long whiskers catfish, Mystus gulio (Hamilton, 1822)

Mystus gulio (Hamilton, 1822), the long whiskers catfish, belongs to the family Bagridae and inhabits brackishwater. The current study employed a multi-platform sequencing strategy including, PacBio HiFi, Illumina short read and high-throughput chromosome conformation capturing (Hi-C) sequencing technologies to generate raw data and assemble a chromosome level genome. The final assembly is 706.32 Mb with an N50 length of 22.79 Mb and 96.56% of the assembly anchored to 29 chromosomes. Repeat sequences accounted for 32.66% of the genome, and BUSCO analysis revealed a genome completeness of 98.1% against actinopterygii_odb12. The full-length transcriptomes were also generated with PacBio Iso-Sequencing strategy for ten tissues (gills, kidney, liver, muscle, ovary, skin, stomach, arborescent organ, dorsal barbel and gallbladder). The transcriptome data generated was integrally used to predict 23,339 protein encoding genes, comprehensive classification of isoforms and analysis of alternate splicing events across the tissues. The resources generated in the study will give meaningful insights into its nutritional potential, ecological functions for the genetic improvement, molecular breeding and evolutionary studies of M. gulio.