Chromosomal-level genome assembly of two dominant desert shrub species in Haloxylon (Amaranthaceae)

Haloxylon ammodendron and Haloxylon persicum are ecologically and economically important drought-tolerant plants, often referred to as "desert guardians" owing to their remarkable abilities to withstand conditions of drought and salinity. We conducted a chromosome-level genome assembly using PacBio HiFi long-read sequences and Hi-C technology in order to gain a deeper understanding of their adaptive mechanisms and resource potential. The final assembled genome sizes were 2.32 Gb (contig N50 = 5.11 Mb; Scaffolds N50 = 257.59 Mb) for H. ammodendron and 1.32 Gb (contig N50 = 9.55 Mb; Scaffolds N50 = 143.67 Mb) for H. persicum, with 97.84% and 95.45% of the respective sequences anchored to nine pseudochromosomes. The BUSCO integrity scores were 88.40% and 84.00% for H. ammodendron and H. persicum, respectively. Gene annotation revealed that H. ammodendron contained 69,844 protein-coding genes, while H. persicum had 66,859 protein-coding genes, with repeat elements constituting 57.42% and 52.88% of their genomes, respectively. The reference genomes of Haloxylon serve as invaluable resources for exploring the ecological and economic significance of desert plants.