A chromosome-level genome assembly of the classical model nematode Panagrellus redivivus for comparative studies of parasitism evolution

Authors

Sato, K., Sun, S., Yamashita, T., Yoshida, A., Shinya, R., Sternberg, P. W., Kikuchi, T.

Abstract

Panagrellus redivivus is a free-living nematode that served as an early model system for nematode biology prior to Caenorhabditis elegans. As a member of Clade IV, a clade harboring major plant-parasitic (e.g., Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) and animal-parasitic (e.g., Strongyloides spp.) species, P. redivivus represents a crucial, phylogenetically proximate non-parasitic reference for investigating the evolution of parasitism. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly of P. redivivus constructed using Oxford Nanopore long reads, Illumina short reads, and Hi-C scaffolding. The assembly is resolved into five chromosome-scale scaffolds, with completeness validated by Hi-C contact maps and the identification of a non-canonical telomeric repeat motif. The assembly demonstrates high gene-space completeness (97.1% BUSCO) and contains 17,839 predicted protein-coding genes. Comparative orthology analysis revealed extensive orthogroup sharing between P. redivivus and Clade IV parasites, enabling comparative evolutionary studies with reduced confounding effects from deep lineage divergence. This high-quality genome provides a key resource for investigating the genetic basis of distinctive biological traits, including ovoviviparity, as well as gene family dynamics and parasite evolution.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 24 Oct 2026.

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