Chromosome-level genome assembly and annotation of the emblematic silver-lipped pearl oyster Pinctada maxima Jameson 1901

The silver-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima, is an iconic bivalve farmed in tropical Australia and South-east Asia to produce high valued South Sea pearls. Here, we present a high-quality, chromosome-level reference genome for P. maxima. The final genome assembly has a total size of 1.27 Gb, with a scaffold N50 length of 65.69 Mb. Using high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technology, we have anchored 80.99% of the assembly to 14 chromosomes. The BUSCO analysis revealed a high level of accuracy and completeness, identifying 87.9% (n = 4,658) of Mollusca core genes, which exceeds the average completeness of 79.2% reported for other mollusc genomes sequenced and annotated to date. The assembly includes 62.79% repeat elements (809 Mb), and gene annotation predicted 25,752 protein-coding genes. This genomic resource offers a powerful tool for unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying pearl formation and facilitating continued research into the evolutionary biology of pearl oysters worldwide.