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Article|01 Dec 2020|OPEN
A chromosome-scale reference genome of Lobularia maritima, an ornamental plant with high stress tolerance
Li Huang1 , Yazhen Ma1 , Jiebei Jiang1 , Ting Li1 , Wenjie Yang1 , Lei Zhang1 , Lei Wu1 , Landi Feng1 , Zhenxiang Xi1 , Xiaoting Xu1 , Jianquan Liu1,2 , Quanjun Hu,1 ,
1Key Laboratory of Bio-Resource and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, 610065 Chengdu, China
2State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, Institute of Innovation Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail: huquanjun@gmail.com

Horticulture Research 7,
Article number: 197 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-020-00422-w
Views: 686

Received: 09 Apr 2020
Revised: 21 Sep 2020
Accepted: 30 Sep 2020
Published online: 01 Dec 2020

Abstract

Lobularia maritima (L.) Desv. is an ornamental plant cultivated across the world. It belongs to the family Brassicaceae and can tolerate dry, poor and contaminated habitats. Here, we present a chromosome-scale, high-quality genome assembly of L. maritima based on integrated approaches combining Illumina short reads and Hi–C chromosome conformation data. The genome was assembled into 12 pseudochromosomes with a 197.70 Mb length, and it includes 25,813 protein-coding genes. Approximately 41.94% of the genome consists of repetitive sequences, with abundant long terminal repeat transposable elements. Comparative genomic analysis confirmed that L. maritima underwent a species-specific whole-genome duplication (WGD) event ~22.99 million years ago. We identified ~1900 species-specific genes, 25 expanded gene families, and 50 positively selected genes in L. maritima. Functional annotations of these genes indicated that they are mainly related to stress tolerance. These results provide new insights into the stress tolerance of L. maritima, and this genomic resource will be valuable for further genetic improvement of this important ornamental plant.