Haplotype-phased, chromosome-level, annotated genome assembly of the soybean rust pathogen Phakopsora pachyrhizi
- 1USDA Agricultural Research Service Northeast Area
Abstract
Phakopsora pachyrhizi, the causal agent of soybean rust, is among the most aggressive and economically impactful pathogens affecting soybean (Glycine max) production worldwide. As a dikaryotic rust fungus, P. pachyrhizi maintains its genetic information as two discrete haplotypes that are sequestered within separate nuclei for most of its life cycle as it reproduces asexually via the production of infectious urediniospores. Previous genomes of three P. pachyrhizi isolates collected in South America revealed a large genome with a high transposable element content, measuring up to 1.25 Gb and 93%, respectively. Although these efforts provided valuable foundational resources, the complexity of the genome resulted in highly fragmented assemblies. Here, we generated a highly contiguous, substantially improved, annotated genome resource from the P. pachyrhizi isolate LA04-1, collected during the initial outbreak of soybean rust in the continental United States in 2004. The assembly is haplotype-phased, with each haplotype assembled into 18 chromosomes totaling 572 Mb and 569 Mb in size. The isolate contains unique mating-type genes and does not share haplotype genomes with any available isolates with whole-genome sequencing datasets. This resource will be valuable to future investigations into the underlying mechanisms of virulence in this important plant pathogen.
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BibTeX
@misc{greatens2026haplotypephased,
title = {{Haplotype-phased, chromosome-level, annotated genome assembly of the soybean rust pathogen Phakopsora pachyrhizi}},
author = {N. F. Greatens and M. G. Elmore and S. R. Ramachandran and A. Wright and L. J. Tallon and S. A. Whitham and R. A. Koch Bach and K. F. Pedley},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.29.755439},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755439v1},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Haplotype-phased, chromosome-level, annotated genome assembly of the soybean rust pathogen Phakopsora pachyrhizi
AU - N. F. Greatens
AU - M. G. Elmore
AU - S. R. Ramachandran
AU - A. Wright
AU - L. J. Tallon
AU - S. A. Whitham
AU - R. A. Koch Bach
AU - K. F. Pedley
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.29.755439
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755439v1
AB - Phakopsora pachyrhizi, the causal agent of soybean rust, is among the most aggressive and economically impactful pathogens affecting soybean (Glycine max) production worldwide. As a dikaryotic rust fungus, P. pachyrhizi maintains its genetic information as two discrete haplotypes that are sequestered within separate nuclei for most of its life cycle as it reproduces asexually via the production of infectious urediniospores. Previous genomes of three P. pachyrhizi isolates collected in South America revealed a large genome with a high transposable element content, measuring up to 1.25 Gb and 93%, respectively. Although these efforts provided valuable foundational resources, the complexity of the genome resulted in highly fragmented assemblies. Here, we generated a highly contiguous, substantially improved, annotated genome resource from the P. pachyrhizi isolate LA04-1, collected during the initial outbreak of soybean rust in the continental United States in 2004. The assembly is haplotype-phased, with each haplotype assembled into 18 chromosomes totaling 572 Mb and 569 Mb in size. The isolate contains unique mating-type genes and does not share haplotype genomes with any available isolates with whole-genome sequencing datasets. This resource will be valuable to future investigations into the underlying mechanisms of virulence in this important plant pathogen.
ER -