High quality chromosome level genome assembly of Camellia fascicularis, an endangered plant in China

Camellia fascicularis is a golden camellia with important ornamental and economic value. In 2010, it was listed as a species with extremely small populations (PSESP) in urgent need of rescue and protection in Yunnan, China, due to the fragmented habitat, extremely small quantity, and significant human interference. However, how to protect and manage at the genomic level still faces challenges. Thus, a high-quality chromosome-level genome of C. fascicularis was assembled by combining the PacBio HiFi sequencing and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) sequencing. The final assembled genome size is 5.65 Gb, comprising two complete haplotypes, with a contig N50 of 115.51 Mb (57 gaps) and a scaffold N50 of 191.08 Mb; 99.67% of contigs are anchored to 30 pseudo-chromosomes(15 per haplotype), and all chromosomal ends contain telomeric characteristic motifs (TTTAGGG)n. In addition, the assembled genome comprises a total of 85,316 predicted coding genes, all of which have been functionally annotated. The first report on the genome of C. fascicularis will lay a solid foundation for future research on its protective genomics.