Abstract:
It is challenging to sequence and assemble genomes of obligate plant pathogens and microorganisms because
of limited amounts of DNA, comparatively large genomes and high numbers of repeat regions. We
sequenced the 1.2 gigabase genome of an obligate rust fungus, Austropuccinia psidii , the cause of rust on
Myrtaceae, with a Chromium 10X library. This technology has mostly been applied for single-cell sequencing
in immunological studies of mammals. We compared scaffolds of a genome assembled from the Chromium
library with one assembled from combined paired-end and mate-pair libraries, sequenced with Illumina
HiSeq. Chromium 10X provided a superior assembly, in terms of number of scaffolds, N50 and number of
genes recovered. It required less DNA than other methods and was sequenced and assembled at a lower
cost. Chromium sequencing could provide a solution to sequence and assemble genomes of obligate plant
pathogens where the amount of available DNA is a limiting factor.
