Improved chromosome-level genome assembly of Indian sandalwood (Santalum album)

Abstract Santalum album is a well-known aromatic and medicinal plant that is highly valued for the essential oil (EO) extracted from its heartwood. In this study, we present a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of S. album after integrating PacBio Sequel, Illumina HiSeq paired-end and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture sequencing technologies. The assembled genome size is 207.39 M with a contig N50 of 7.33 M and scaffold N50 size of 18.31 M. Compared with three previously published sandalwood genomes, the N50 length of the genome assembly was longer. In total, 94.26% of the assembly was assigned to 10 pseudo-chromosomes, and the anchor rate far exceeded that of a recently released value. BUSCO analysis yielded a completeness score of 94.91%. In addition, we predicted 23,283 protein-coding genes, 89.68% of which were functionally annotated. This high-quality genome will provide a foundation for sandalwood functional genomics studies, and also for elucidating the genetic basis of EO biosynthesis in S. album