A high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of the low chilling requirement mulberry, Morus macroura

Morus macroura with low chilling requirement is one of the primary cultivated mulberry varieties, demonstrates early and abundant fruiting characteristics with high yield and significant economic value, however, the genetic mechanisms of M. macroura are not well understood. In this study, we constructed a chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation of M. macroura. The contig-level genome was initially assembled in 322.62 Mb with a contig N50 of 17.98 Mb from PacBio HiFi reads. With Hi-C sequencing data scafolding, 99.34% of the initially assembled sequences were anchored and orientated onto 14 pseudo-chromosomes, generating a genome of 318.59 Mb with a contig N50 of 17.98 Mb. We identifed 173.34 Mb (54.41%) of repetitive sequences and 2,970 non-coding RNAs in the genome. A total of 21,824 protein-coding genes were predicted, with 21,181 (97.05%) functionally annotated genes. We found 97.21% and 97.46% complete BUSCO genes in the pseudo-chromosomes genome and predicted gene datasets. The high-quality assembly serves as a foundational resource for decoding regulatory networks of year-round fruiting and low-chilling adaptation in M. macroura.