Complete Genomic Sequence of pv. Strain, LA20, for Studying Resurgence of Rice Bacterial Blight in the Yangtze River Region, China.

pv. () is a causative agent of rice bacterial blight (BB). In 2020-2022, BB re-emerged, and there was a break out in the Yangtze River area, China. The pandemic strain, LA20, was isolated and identified from cultivar Quanyou1606 and demonstrated to be the Chinese R9 strain, which is able to override the widely adopted -, - and -mediated resistance in rice varieties in Yangtze River. Here, we report the complete genome of LA20 by PacBio and Illumina sequencing. The assembled genome consists of one circular chromosome of 4,960,087 bp, sharing 99.65% sequence identity with the traditional representative strain, YC11 (R5), in the Yangtze River. Comparative genome analysis of LA20 and YC11 revealed the obvious variability in genes (the uppermost virulence determinants) in numbers and sequences. Particularly, six genes were only found in LA20, but not in YC11, among which ()/ (), along with the lost one, (), might be the major factors for LA20 to overcome -, - and -mediated resistance, thus, leading to the resurgence of BB. This complete genome of the new pandemic strain will provide novel insights into pathogen evolution, the traits of pathogenicity on genomic level and the epidemic disease status in China.