Chromosome-scale assembly of the yellow mealworm genome

Abstract

Background: The yellow mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, is a promising alternative protein source for animal and human nutrition and its farming involves relatively low environmental costs. For these reasons, its industrial scale production started this century. However, to optimize and breed sustainable new T. molitor lines, the access to its genome remains essential. Methods: By combining Oxford Nanopore and Illumina Hi-C data, we constructed a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of T. molitor. Then, we combined RNA-seq data and available coleoptera proteomes for gene prediction with GMOVE. Results: We produced a high-quality genome with a N50 = 21.9Mb with a completeness of 99.5% and predicted 21,435 genes with a median size of 1,780 bp. Gene orthology between T. molitor and Tribolium castaneaum showed a highly conserved synteny between the two coleoptera and paralogs search revealed an expansion of histones in the T. molitor genome. Conclusions: The present genome will greatly help fundamental and applied research such as genetic breeding and will contribute to the sustainable production of the yellow mealworm.