Chromosome-scale assembly of the yellow mealworm genome

Background: The yellow mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, is a promising alternative protein source for animal and human nutrition its farming involves relatively low environmental costs. For these reasons, industrial scale production started this century. However, to optimize breed sustainable new T. molitor lines, the access genome remains essential. Methods: By combining Oxford Nanopore Illumina Hi-C data, we constructed high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of molitor. Then, combined RNA-seq data available coleoptera proteomes gene prediction with GMOVE. Results: We produced N50 = 21.9Mb completeness 99.5% predicted 21,435 genes median size 1,780 bp. Gene orthology between Tribolium castaneum showed highly conserved synteny two paralogs search revealed an expansion histones in genome. Conclusions: present will greatly help fundamental applied research such as genetic breeding contribute mealworm.