Erythrophleum fordii Genome sequencing
Erythrophleum fordii Oliv., a valuable rosewood tree of Fabaceae, naturally occurs in southern China, Vietnam and Laos, and possesses great economic, medicinal, ornamental and ecological values. Nevertheless, this species has been categorized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its natural regeneration is severely constrained by inefficient seed dispersal and habitat fragmentation. Furthermore, the lack of chromosome level genome assemblies hinders systematic investigations into its genetic characteristics, adaptive mechanisms, germplasm preservation and molecular breeding, and available genomic resources for E. fordii are still quite limited. To fill this critical research gap, we constructed a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome for E. fordii by adopting combined sequencing and assembly approaches. The final assembled genome reaches 886.3 Mb, with a contig N50 of 60.2 Mb. Up to 98.2 % of assembled sequences are anchored onto 14 pseudochromosomes. A total of 33 237 protein-coding genes are predicted, among which 32 044 genes (96.4 %) are assigned with functional annotations. This chromosomal-level genome resource provides fundamental genomic support for further molecular research, germplasm conservation and genetic improvement of this endangered precious tree species.