Chromosome-level genome assembly reveals the unique genome evolution of the swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus)

BACKGROUND: The swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus, is an important commercial species in China and is widely distributed in the coastal waters of Asia-Pacific countries. Despite increasing interest in swimming crab research, a high-quality chromosome-level genome is still lacking. FINDINGS: Here, we assembled the first chromosome-level reference genome of P. trituberculatus by combining the short reads, Nanopore long reads, and Hi-C data. The genome assembly size was 1.00 Gb with a contig N50 length of 4.12 Mb. In addition, BUSCO assessment indicated that 94.7% of core eukaryotic genes were present in the genome assembly. Approximately 54.52% of the genome was identified as repetitive sequences, with a total of 16,796 annotated protein-coding genes. In addition, we anchored contigs into chromosomes and identified 50 chromosomes with an N50 length of 21.80 Mb by Hi-C technology. CONCLUSIONS: We anticipate that this chromosome-level assembly of the P. trituberculatus genome will not only promote study of basic development and evolution but also provide important resources for swimming crab reproduction.