Genome report: whole-genome assembly of the relapsing fever tick <i>Ornithodoros turicata</i> Dugès (Acari: Argasidae)

The soft tick family Argasidae contains vectors of medical and veterinary importance, but few molecular resources are available compared to hard ticks (Ixodidae). One example is Ornithodoros turicata, a recognized vector of Borrelia turicatae, causal agent of human relapsing fever, and a putative vector of African swine fever virus. To address the current lack of molecular resources for the Argasidae, we generated a chromosome-level genome assembly for O. turicata using PacBio sequencing in conjunction with an Illumina Hi-C library. The resulting reference genome has a total of 1.1 Gb in length and was assembled into 10 chromosomes and 368 unplaced scaffolds, an N50 of 2.7 Mb, and a QV score of 43.58. The orthology analysis indicated high-quality with a 97.8% BUSCO completeness score and 36,149 annotated genes. 33% of the genome was identified as repeats and masked. The generation of the first soft tick reference genome establishes a basis for future studies to utilize genomic tools to support vector-borne disease management.