A haplotype-resolved, near telomere-to-telomere genome assembly of the desiccation-tolerant plant Vellozia tubiflora

Abstract

Vegetative desiccation tolerance allows plants to survive the loss of up to 95% of their cellular water content and recover upon rehydration. The family Velloziaceae contains the largest number of desiccation-tolerant species among flowering plants, yet genomic resources for this lineage remain extremely limited. Here we report the first reference genome of the genus Vellozia, the most species-rich genus of the family. Using PacBio HiFi sequencing and Omni-C chromatin conformation data, we generated a haplotype-resolved genome assembly of Vellozia tubiflora with near telomere-to-telomere continuity. Hap1 and Hap2 span 423.2 Mb and 426.4 Mb, respectively, with both assemblies successfully anchored into nine chromosome-length scaffolds. The former presents a scaffold N50 of 49.8 Mb and 96.5% BUSCO completeness, while the latter reaches 50.0 Mb and 96.8%. Genome annotation predicted 23,352 and 23,549 protein-coding genes in Hap1 and Hap2, respectively. This resource is anticipated to foster new insights for comparative and evolutionary studies of vegetative desiccation tolerance across angiosperms and expands the genomic representation of plants from the Brazilian campos rupestres, a threatened biodiversity hotspot characterized by extreme environmental conditions.