A new genome assembly and annotation of Paspalum notatum Flugge var saurae, obtained from a plant native to the center of origin of the species.
Paspalum notatum Flugge is an economically vuable subtropical forage grass widely used in the Americas. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale genome assembly obtained from R1, a natural diploid biotype collected at the centre of origin of the species. Using Oxford Nanopore long reads and Illumina short reads, we generated a 557.81 Mb genome assembly (N50 = 56.1 Mb) with high gene completeness (BUSCO score = 98.73%). Genome characterisation identified 320 Mb (57.36 %) of repetitive elements and predicted 45,074 gene models. Annotation included the identification of 58 miRNA precursors and their putative targets. The present work provides a comprehensive genomic resource useful for P. notatum breeding and a new reference frame for functional and evolutionary research within the genus.