A high quality genome of the common swamp pitcher plant (Nepenthes mirabilis) using PacBio HiFi sequencing

Abstract

The genus Nepenthes, known commonly as tropical pitcher plants, are amongst the most recognisable carnivorous plants, capturing and digesting organic material in highly modified ‘pitcher’ leaves to acquire nitrogen and other valuable nutrients that are naturally scarce in their habitats. Here, PacBio HiFi long-read sequencing was used to assemble a near chromosome-level genome for a female specimen of Nepenthes mirabilis. We compare the genome organisation and gene content with a recently published chromosome-level assembly from a male specimen of the closely related N. gracilis, generated using Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing and Hi-C scaffolding. We identify putative centromeres and large repeats in some N. mirabilis chromosomes that are absent from the N. gracilis assembly and examine the differences between the X and Y chromosomes, identifying a massive nuclear ribosomal repeat array in the N. mirabilis X-chromosome.