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Chromosome-level Genome Assembly of the Halophytic Turfgrass Zoysia macrostachya.

Hyeonseon Park·Eunji Bae·Jae Gyeong Jung·Bae Young Choi·Tae-Ho Lee·Donghwan Shim
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Abstract

Zoysia macrostachya Franch. & Sav. is a halophytic perennial turfgrass in the Poaceae family, commonly found in the coastal regions of Korea, Japan, and East Asia. Z. macrostachya thrives in high-salinity environments, making it an excellent model for studying abiotic stress resilience. In this study, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly of Z. macrostachya, constructed using Oxford Nanopore long reads, Illumina short reads, and Omni-C sequencing data. The assembly spans 329.78 Mb across 20 chromosomes, with a scaffold N50 of 19.24 Mb, and includes complete telomeric sequences at both ends. The assembly showed 97.8% complete BUSCOs, indicating high genome completeness. Repeat element and gene annotation identified 44.03% of the genome as repetitive elements and 33,474 protein-coding genes. The gene annotation showed 97.1% complete BUSCOs and 86.92% functionally characterized genes. Macrosynteny analysis highlighted highly collinear relationships with related species, providing a foundational understanding of the Z. macrostachya genomic structure. This high-quality genome serves as a valuable resource for advancing salinity tolerance research and improving the genetic diversity of Zoysia species.

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Genome, PlantPoaceaeChromosomes, PlantSalt-Tolerant PlantsMolecular Sequence AnnotationRepetitive Sequences, Nucleic AcidJournal ArticleDatasetResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Hyeonseon Park, Eunji Bae, Jae Gyeong Jung, Bae Young Choi, Tae-Ho Lee, Donghwan Shim. 2025-07-31. Chromosome-level Genome Assembly of the Halophytic Turfgrass Zoysia macrostachya.. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05702-5

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