Institute of Medicinal Plant Physiology and Ecology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Innovative Academy for Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 18;13(1):3511. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31121-w.
Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth.), a member of the Lamiaceae family, is an important aromatic plant that has been widely used in medicine and perfumery. Here, we report a 1.94 Gb chromosome-scale assembly of the patchouli genome (contig N50 = 7.97 Mb). The gene annotation reveals that tandem duplication of sesquiterpene biosynthetic genes may be a major contributor to the biosynthesis of patchouli bioactivity components. We further phase the genome into two distinct subgenomes (A and B), and identify a chromosome substitution event that have occurred between them. Further investigations show that a burst of universal LTR-RTs in the A subgenome lead to the divergence between two subgenomes. However, no significant subgenome dominance is detected. Finally, we track the evolutionary scenario of patchouli including whole genome tetraploidization, subgenome divergency, hybridization, and chromosome substitution, which are the key forces to determine the complexity of patchouli genome. Our work sheds light on the evolutionary history of patchouli and offers unprecedented genomic resources for fundamental patchouli research and elite germplasm development.
广藿香（ Pogostemon cablin （ Blanco ）Benth.），唇形科的一员，是一种重要的芳香植物，已广泛应用于医学和香水行业。在这里，我们报告了一个 1.94Gb 染色体规模的广藿香基因组组装（重叠群 N50=7.97Mb）。基因注释表明，倍半萜生物合成基因的串联重复可能是合成广藿香生物活性成分的主要原因。我们进一步将基因组分为两个不同的亚基因组（A 和 B），并确定了它们之间发生的染色体替换事件。进一步的研究表明，A 亚基因组中普遍的 LTR-RTs 的爆发导致了两个亚基因组的分化。然而，没有检测到明显的亚基因组优势。最后，我们追踪了广藿香的进化情况，包括整个基因组的四倍化、亚基因组的分歧、杂交和染色体替换，这些是决定广藿香基因组复杂性的关键因素。我们的工作揭示了广藿香的进化历史，并为基础广藿香研究和优良种质资源开发提供了前所未有的基因组资源。
