First high-quality genome assembly data of sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottboll)

Abstract

AbstractThe sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottboll) is a all-rounder palm, it is both a tropical halophytic starch-producing palm as well as an ornamental plant. Recently, a genome survey was conducted on this palm using Illumina sequencing platform but the BUSCO genome completeness is very low (21.5%) and most of them (∼78%) are either fragmented or missing. Thus, in this study, the sago palm genome completeness was further improved with the utilization of the Nanopore sequencing platform that produced longer reads. A hybrid genome assembly was conducted and the outcome was a much complete sago palm genome with BUSCO completeness achieved at as high as 97.9% with only ∼2% of them either fragmented or missing. The estimated genome size of the sago palm is 509,812,790 bp in this study. A sum of 33,242 protein-coding genes were revealed from the sago palm genome and around 96.39% of them had been functionally annotated. An investigation on the carbohydrate metabolism KEGG pathways also unearthed that starch synthesis was one of the major sago palm activities. These data are indispensable for future molecular evolutionary and genome-wide association studies.Specifications TableValue of the DataFirst complete genome dataset for the eco-economic important sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottboll).High completeness of sago palm genomic dataset will facilitate future researches, such as genome-wide association studies.The data is useful in pioneering sago palm genetic landscape investigations which in turn unmask the mystery behind its high starch yield, salinity tolerance and disease resistance.