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Article|05 Oct 2023|OPEN
Telomere-to-telomere assembly of cassava genome reveals the evolution of cassava and divergence of allelic expression
Xin-Dong Xu1 ,† , Ru-Peng Zhao1 ,† , Liang Xiao2 , Liuying Lu2 , Min Gao1 , Yu-Hong Luo1 , Zu-Wen Zhou1 , Si-Ying Ye1 , Yong-Qing Qian1 , Bing-Liang Fan1 , Xiaohong Shang2 , Pingli Shi2 , Wendan Zeng2 , Sheng Cao2 , Zhengdan Wu2 , Huabing Yan2 , , Ling-Ling Chen1 , and Jia-Ming Song,1 ,
1State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
2Cash Crops Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning 530007, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail: h.b.yan@hotmail.com,llchen@gxu.edu.cn,jmsong@gxu.edu.cn
Both authors contributed equally to the study.

Horticulture Research 10,
Article number: uhad200 (2023)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhad200
Views: 87

Received: 11 May 2023
Accepted: 28 Sep 2023
Published online: 05 Oct 2023

Abstract

Cassava is a crucial crop that makes a significant contribution to ensuring human food security. However, high-quality telomere-to-telomere cassava genomes have not been available up to now, which has restricted the progress of haploid molecular breeding for cassava. In this study, we constructed two nearly complete haploid resolved genomes and an integrated, telomere-to-telomere gap-free reference genome of an excellent cassava variety, ‘Xinxuan 048’, thereby providing a new high-quality genomic resource. Furthermore, the evolutionary history of several species within the Euphorbiaceae family was revealed. Through comparative analysis of haploid genomes, it was found that two haploid genomes had extensive differences in linear structure, transcriptome features, and epigenetic characteristics. Genes located within the highly divergent regions and differentially expressed alleles are enriched in the functions of auxin response and the starch synthesis pathway. The high heterozygosity of cassava ‘Xinxuan 048’ leads to rapid trait segregation in the first selfed generation. This study provides a theoretical basis and genomic resource for molecular breeding of cassava haploids.