A telomere-to-telomere genome assembly for Cyperus difformis

Cyperus difformis is a globally problematic weed in rice fields, posing a significant threat to rice yield. While chemical herbicides are commonly used for its control, the species often escapes management due to its rapid evolution of resistance to widely used herbicides. To better understand the mechanisms underlying herbicide resistance, insights into the genetics and genomics of C. difformis are essential. In this study, we present a telomere-to-telomere genome assembly of C. difformis, generated by combining PacBio HiFi, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT), MGI short reads and high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) technologies. The assembled genome spans 226 Mb with a scaffold N50 of 13.08 Mb. Utilizing Hi-C interaction data, 97.24% of the contigs were anchored to 18 chromosomes, with 35 telomeres successfully defined. Further analysis identified 75.73 Mb of repetitive sequences and 21,069 protein-coding genes, of which 91.8% (19,347 genes) were functionally annotated. This high-quality genome provides a valuable resource for studies in population genetics, phylogeny, comparative genomics, adaptive evolution, and functional genomics of C. difformis.