Chromosome level genome assembly of taro (Colocasia esculenta)

Taro (Colocasia esculenta), a crop native to Southeast Asia, is classified under the genus Colocasia of the family Araceae. Here, the taro genome was assembled to the chromosome level, yielding a 2,336.63 Mb assembly with a scaffold N50 of 181.70 Mb. A total of 96.86% of assembled contigs were positioned onto 14 chromosomes through Hi-C scaffolding. Repeat annotation indicated that 85.16% of the genome (1,989.98 Mb) comprises repetitive sequences. A total of 28,253 protein-coding genes were predicted, with 95.14% assigned functional annotations. In addition, 2,842 rRNAs, 1,392 tRNAs, 452 snRNAs, and 68 miRNAs were identified. The availability of this reference genome lays the groundwork for comprehensive genomic analyses and facilitates genetic improvement in taro.