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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #427165
Research Project: Novel Approaches for Management of Row Crop Pests and Continued Boll Weevil Eradication

Location: Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research

Title: A chromosome level reference genome for the pecan weevil, Curculio caryae

Author
item Perkin, Lindsey
item Cohen, Zachary
item Sim, Sheina
item Geib, Scott
item Childers, Anna
item Smith, Timothy
item JOHNSTON, J. - Texas A&M University
item Saelao, Perot
item Suh, Charles

Submitted to: Scientific Data
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/2026
Publication Date: 3/18/2026
Citation: Perkin, L.C., Cohen, Z.P., Sim, S.B., Geib, S.M., Childers, A.K., Smith, T.P.L., Johnston, J.S., Saelao, P., Suh, C.P.-C. 2026. A chromosome level reference genome for the pecan weevil, Curculio caryae. Scientific Data. 13. Article 706. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07030-8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07030-8

Interpretive Summary: The pecan weevil is a major pest of commercial and native pecan orchards across most of pecan's range in the United States. While management strategies such as trapping and insecticide sprays are generally successfully used to control the pecan weevil, much remains unknown about its biology and ecology. As part of the Ag100 Pest Initiative, we sequenced and assembled a high-quality reference genome for the pecan weevil, as well as annotated all of its genes. These data not only significantly improve our understanding of the genes involved in the biological and ecological processes of the pecan weevil but will also be useful for comparative genomic studies among different pest weevil species, which may lead to the development of new management strategies for weevils.

Technical Abstract: The pecan weevil, Curculio caryae (Horn), is an obligate feeder of pecan and native hickory throughout North America. Subsequently, it is a significant agricultural pest in commercial pecan orchards. In this study, we present a reference quality genome using deep-coverage, ~50x PacBio HiFi genome sequence reads, and chromatic confirmation, Hi-C, scaffolding. The final genome assembly is approximately 2.1 Gb, which was confirmed with flow cytometry. The primary genome scaffolds have an N50 of 132 Mb and a BUSCO completeness of 99.1% [S:97.5%, D:1.6%]. Furthermore, we employed PacBio long-read RNA, Iso-seq, for de novo annotation, followed by InterProscan to identify approximately 16,000 protein coding genes. Repeat content is extensive, contributing to >75% of the total genome. This data set provides a valuable resource for use in comparative genomics and evolutionary studies for an economically impactful group of insect pests that currently lack genomic resources.