Draft Genome Sequence of Elsinoe masingae: The Causal Agent of Eucalyptus Scab in South Africa

Abstract Elsinoe masingae is a recently described fungal pathogen causing Eucalyptus scab and shoot malformation in South African plantations. Here we present the draft genome sequence of the ex-holotype isolate (CMW 58888 = CMW-IA 1800). Illumina paired-end sequencing generated approximately 24.6 million reads, yielding a 24.8 Mb assembly comprising 176 scaffolds with an N50 of 0.47 Mb and a GC content of 51.04%. BUSCO analysis using the dothideomycetes_odb10 dataset indicated 93.70% completeness, and funannotate predicted 8 883 protein-coding genes. Phylogenetic inference based on ITS, LSU, TEF1 and RPB2 sequences confirmed the identity of the sequenced isolate as E. masingae . The availability of this genome provides an essential resource for developing molecular tools to study the population diversity, epidemiology, and evolutionary history of E. masingae , and enables comparative analyses of pathogenicity and host adaptation among Elsinoe species affecting Eucalyptus and other crops.