Whole genome assembly and annotation of the Bumblebee Wax Moth, Aphomia sociella

Abstract

The bumble bee wax moth, Apshomia sociella, is an important lepidopteran pest impacting bee colonies essential for pollination and apiculture. Despite its relevance, sequence efforts aimed at understanding the genetic makeup of this species have not yet been undertaken. In this work, we successfully achieved a high-quality de novo genome assembly of A. sociella and comprehensive gene annotations generated from long-read DNA and RNA sequencing with Oxford Nanopore technology. The haploid assembly includes 347 contigs, with an N50 of 4.96 Mb, and contains 27 242 protein-coding genes. Benchmarking Universal Single Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) analyses indicates that the assembly has a high level of completeness (98.3%) and low level of fragmentation (0.6%) and duplication (3.9%). Phylogenomic analyses with other members of the Lepidoptera order placed A. sociella in the same clade as Corcyra cephalonica and indicates close evolutionary relationships with the other two species in the subfamily Galleriinae, namely Achroia grisella and Galleria mellonella. This new high-quality genome assembly represents a valuable resource for investigating the genomic basis of ecological specialization of this species and offers critical support for research aimed at developing sustainable and effective pest management strategies.