A chromosome-level genome assembly of the Knoxia roxburghii (Rubiaceae)

Abstract Knoxia roxburghii is a well-known medicinal plant that is widely distributed in southern China and Southeast Asia. Its dried roots, known as hongdaji in traditional Chinese medicine, are used to treat a range of diseases, including cancers, carbuncles, and ascites. In this study, we report a de novo chromosome-level genome sequence for this diploid plant, which has a length of approximately 446.30 Mb with a contig N50 size of 42.26 Mb and scaffold N50 size of 44.38 Mb. Approximately 99.78% of the assembled sequences were anchored to 10 pseudochromosomes and 3 gapless assembled chromosomes were included in this assembly. A total of 24,507 genes were annotated, along with 68.92% of repetitive elements. Overall, our results will facilitate further active component biosynthesis for K. roxburghii and provide insights for future functional genomic studies and DNA-informed breeding.