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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.11.11.765931

A chromosome-level genome assembly of northern dragonhead, Dracocephalum ruyschiana L., 1753

Strand, M. A.·Evju, M.·Kyrkjeeide, M. O.·Toerresen, O. K.·Danneels, B.·Arnyasi, M.·Ferrari, G.·Skage, M.·Tooming-Klunderud, A.·Jakobsen, K. S.
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Abstract

We present a chromosome-level genome assembly for the vascular plant northern dragonhead, Dracocephalum ruyschiana. The assembly comprises two pseudo-haplotypes, hap1 and hap2, of 661 Mb and 681 Mb, with 93.6% and 92.5%, respectively, scaffolded into seven chromosomes each - in line with the known karyotype. Assembly quality was high, with conserved single-copy ortholog completeness scores of 97.9% and 97.8%, combined k-mer completeness of 98.1%, and 38,141 and 38,617 annotated protein-coding genes for hap1 and hap2, respectively. This assembly provides a high-quality genomic resource for future research and conservation of northern dragonhead, as well as the endangered northern dragonhead sap beetle, which depends on the plant for reproduction and whose genome assembly is described in a complementary genome note.

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Strand, M. A., Evju, M., Kyrkjeeide, M. O., Toerresen, O. K., Danneels, B., Arnyasi, M., Ferrari, G., Skage, M., Tooming-Klunderud, A., Jakobsen, K. S.. 2026-11-13. A chromosome-level genome assembly of northern dragonhead, Dracocephalum ruyschiana L., 1753. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.11.11.765931

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