A Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly of Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier, 1789) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a Global Pest of Stored Grains.
Sitotroga cerealella, commonly known as the Angoumois grain moth, is a highly destructive, cosmopolitan pest affecting stored cereal grains worldwide. Despite its economic importance, high-quality genomic resources for this species have been lacking, hindering advanced molecular studies aimed at developing effective control strategies. Here, we present a highly contiguous, chromosome-level reference genome assembly for male S. cerealella using a multi-platform sequencing approach combining Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) ultra-long reads, Illumina short reads, and Hi-C chromatin interaction data. The final assembly, which lacks the female-specific W chromosome, achieved a total size of 325.99 Mb and was anchored into 30 pseudochromosomes, representing an anchoring rate of 99.89%. The assembly continuity is exceptionally high, with a Scaffold N50 of 12.046 Mb, approaching telomere-to-telomere (T2T) completion for many chromosomes. Comprehensive structural and functional annotation, supported by multi-stage RNA-seq data, identified 13,840 protein-coding genes and revealed that 40.81% of the genome consists of repetitive elements. Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) analysis confirmed the high quality and completeness, achieving a score of 99.7% (Insecta). This high-quality genomic resource provides a critical foundation for studying the molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance, detoxification metabolism, and sustainable pest management of this destructive stored-grain pest.