Sericultural & Agri-Food Research Institute Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Functional Foods, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Guangdong Key Laboratory of Agricultural Products Processing, Guangzhou, 510610, P. R. China.
Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture in South China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangzhou, 510610, P. R. China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2023 Aug;10(24):e2300039. doi: 10.1002/advs.202300039. Epub 2023 Jun 20.
Mulberry is an economically important plant in the sericulture industry and traditional medicine. However, the genetic and evolutionary history of mulberry remains largely unknown. Here, this work presents the chromosome-level genome assembly of Morus atropurpurea (M. atropurpurea), originating from south China. Population genomic analysis using 425 mulberry accessions reveal that cultivated mulberry is classified into two species, M. atropurpurea and M. alba, which may have originated from two different mulberry progenitors and have independent and parallel domestication in north and south China, respectively. Extensive gene flow is revealed between different mulberry populations, contributing to genetic diversity in modern hybrid cultivars. This work also identifies the genetic architecture of the flowering time and leaf size. In addition, the genomic structure and evolution of sex-determining regions are identified. This study significantly advances the understanding of the genetic basis and domestication history of mulberry in the north and south, and provides valuable molecular markers of desirable traits for mulberry breeding.
桑树是蚕桑产业和传统医学中一种重要的经济作物。然而，桑树的遗传和进化历史在很大程度上仍是未知的。本研究对源自中国南方的野桑种（Morus atropurpurea，M. atropurpurea）进行了染色体水平的基因组组装。利用 425 份桑树种质资源的群体基因组分析表明，栽培桑种可分为两个种，即 M. atropurpurea 和 M. alba，它们可能起源于不同的桑树祖先，并分别在中国北方和南方独立且平行地驯化。不同桑树种质资源之间存在广泛的基因流，这促成了现代杂交品种的遗传多样性。本研究还鉴定了开花时间和叶片大小的遗传结构。此外，鉴定了性别决定区域的基因组结构和进化。这项研究显著推进了对南北地区桑树遗传基础和驯化历史的理解，为桑树的育种提供了有价值的理想性状的分子标记。
