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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.06.06.658235

A Chromosome-Level Assembly of the Pine Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) genome

Gautier, M.·Nouhaud, P.·Lagnel, J.·Saune, L.·Legeai, F.·Parinello, H.·Gschloessl, B.·Marande, W.·Lopez-Roques, C.·Dorkeld, F.·Branco, M.·Perrier, C.·Kerdelhue, C.
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Abstract

We present a chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation of the pine processionary moth, Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae), a key forest pest that is a public health concern. The nuclear genome spans 615.9 Mb, scaffolded into 50 chromosome scale and 115 smaller scaffolds, with high completeness (BUSCO score: 98.9%) that provides a decisive improvement over the previous assembly (537 Mb; 68,292 contigs; BUSCO 83.6%). Coverage differences in resequenced males and females allowed identification of the Z chromosome and several W-linked contigs. As ex-pected from previous studies, we found that synteny was largely conserved with related Lepidoptera, although chromosomal fissions may explain the higher chromosome number of 49 autosomes com-pared to typical lepidopteran karyotypes. We also integrated into the assembly linkage map, allowing estimation of a genome-wide male recombination rate of 5.06 cM/Mb, varying from 11.6 cM/Mb to 1.98 cM/Mb from the smallest to the largest chromosomes. Repetitive elements represented 49.1% of this new assembly, dominated by LINEs (45.1% of classified repeats). Finally, gene prediction identified 12,898 gene models, among which 17 circadian rhythm genes were manually curated. Ex-pert annotation further allowed to identify 51 genes of the odorant receptor (OR) family as well as a total of 236 detoxification genes, including 78 CYPs, 56 CCEs, 30 GSTs, 23 UGTs and 49 ABCs. Overall, this assembly represents the first chromosome-level genome for a member of the Thaume-topoeinae subfamily, significantly expanding the currently limited set of genomic resources avail-able for Notodontidae. The fully annotated assembly is publicly accessible through the LepidoDB database (https://bipaa.genouest.org/is/lepidodb/) and will serve as a valuable resource for research on population genomics of this species.

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Gautier, M., Nouhaud, P., Lagnel, J., Saune, L., Legeai, F., Parinello, H., Gschloessl, B., Marande, W., Lopez-Roques, C., Dorkeld, F., Branco, M., Perrier, C., Kerdelhue, C.. 2025-06-09. A Chromosome-Level Assembly of the Pine Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) genome. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.06.658235

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