Draft genome sequence of 'Candidatus Phytoplasma australasia,' strain SS02 associated with sesame phyllody disease

'Candidatus Phytoplasma' is an uncultivated, intracellular bacterial plant pathogen transmitted by phloem-feeding insect vectors. Among the group of phytoplasmas, the Peanut Witches' Broom or 16SrII group of phytoplasmas associated with various diseases cause severe crop losses every year in India. The 'Ca. Phytoplasma sp.' strain SS02 was associated with phyllody disease of sesame plants collected from New Delhi. The genome sequence of strain SS02 was obtained using its genomic DNA enrichment and hybrid assembly of sequences generated on Illumina and Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION platforms. The hybrid assembly strategy generated a draft genome with 60 contigs totaling 553,228 bp of length with more than 400 x depth coverage and 95.21% of the estimated completeness. The SSO2 genome draft sequence contains 465 protein-coding genes, 17 tRNA genes, and 3 rRNA genes. The availability of this draft genome also provided a foundation for genome-scale genotypic analyses.

Automated summary

'Candidatus Phytoplasma' is a plant pathogen that cannot be cultured and is transmitted by phloem-feeding insect vectors. In India, phytoplasmas associated with various diseases cause significant crop losses. The genome sequence of strain SS02, which is associated with phyllody disease of sesame plants, was obtained using genomic DNA enrichment and hybrid assembly. This draft genome provides a foundation for genome-scale genotypic analyses.