An annotated near-complete sequence assembly of the Magnaporthe oryzae 70-15 reference genome

Magnaporthe oryzae is a devastating fungal pathogen that causes substantial yield losses in rice and other cereal crops worldwide. A high-quality genome assembly is critical for addressing challenges posed by this pathogen. However, the current widely used MG8 assembly of the M. oryzae strain 70-15 reference genome contains numerous gaps and unresolved repetitive regions. Here, we report a complete 44.82 Mb high-quality nuclear genome and a 35.95 kb circular mitochondrial genome for strain 70-15, generated using deep-coverage PacBio high-fidelity sequencing (HiFi) and high-resolution chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) data. Notably, we successfully resolved one or both telomere sequences for all seven chromosomes and achieved telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assemblies for chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. Based on this T2T assembly, we predicted 12,100 protein-coding genes and 493 effectors. This high-quality T2T assembly represents a significant advancement in M. oryzae genomics and provides an enhanced reference for studies in genome biology, comparative genomics, and population genetics of this economically important plant pathogen.