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Article|01 Dec 2020|OPEN
The de novo genome assembly of Tapiscia sinensis and the transcriptomic and developmental bases of androdioecy
Peng Zhao1 , Guiliang Xin1 , Feng Yan1 , Huan Wang1 , Xiaolong Ren1 , Keith Woeste2 and Wenzhe Liu,1 ,
1Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710069, China
2USDA Forest Service Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (HTIRC), Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
*Corresponding author. E-mail: lwenzhe@nwu.edu.cn

Horticulture Research 7,
Article number: 191 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-020-00414-w
Views: 696

Received: 11 Mar 2020
Revised: 14 Jul 2020
Accepted: 11 Aug 2020
Published online: 01 Dec 2020

Abstract

Tapiscia sinensis (Tapisciaceae) possesses an unusual androdioecious breeding system that has attracted considerable interest from evolutionary biologists. Key aspects of T. sinensis biology, including its biogeography, genomics, and sex-linked genes, are unknown. Here, we report the first de novo assembly of the genome of T. sinensis. The genome size was 410 Mb, with 22,251 predicted genes. Based on whole-genome resequencing of 55 trees from 10 locations, an analysis of population genetic structure indicated that T. sinensis has fragmented into five lineages, with low intrapopulation genetic diversity and little gene flow among populations. By comparing whole-genome scans of male versus hermaphroditic pools, we identified 303 candidate sex-linked genes, 79 of which (25.9%) were located on scaffold 25. A 24-kb region was absent in hermaphroditic individuals, and five genes in that region, TsF-box4, TsF-box10, TsF-box13, TsSUT1, and TsSUT4, showed expression differences between mature male and hermaphroditic flowers. The results of this study shed light on the breeding system evolution and conservation genetics of the Tapisciaceae.