De-novo genome assembly for Akanthomyces muscarius, a biocontrol agent of insect agricultural pests

The entomopathogenic fungus Akanthomyces muscarius is used as a biological control agent for the management of insect pests in agriculture. It also presents a potential model for studying host-pathogen interactions and the evolution of virulence in a laboratory setting. Here, we present the first high-quality genome sequence for A. muscarius. We used long- and short-read sequencing to assemble a sequence of 36.1 Mb with an N50 of 4.9 Mb. Genome annotation predicts 12,347 genes, with 96.6 % completeness based on the core Hypocrealen gene set (Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs). The first high-quality assembly and annotation of A. muscarius presented in this study provide a powerful tool for further research on this commercially important species.