Gossypium barbadense and Gossypium hirsutum genomes provide insights into the origin and evolution of allotetraploid cotton

First author: Yan Hu; Affiliations: Zhejiang University (浙江大学): Hangzhou, China

Corresponding author: Tianzhen Zhang

Allotetraploid cotton is an economically important natural-fiber-producing crop worldwide. After polyploidization, Gossypium hirsutum L. evolved to produce a higher fiber yield and to better survive harsh environments than Gossypium barbadense, which produces superior-quality fibers. The global genetic and molecular bases for these interspecies divergences were unknown. Here we report high-quality de novo–assembled genomes for these two cultivated allotetraploid species with pronounced improvement in repetitive-DNA-enriched centromeric regions. Whole-genome comparative analyses revealed that species-specific alterations in gene expression, structural variations and expanded gene families were responsible for speciation and the evolutionary history of these species. These findings help to elucidate the evolution of cotton genomes and their domestication history. The information generated not only should enable breeders to improve fiber quality and resilience to ever-changing environmental conditions but also can be translated to other crops for better understanding of their domestication history and use in improvement.

异源四倍体棉花是一类重要的经济作物，其主要为人类世界提供自然纤维。在基因组多倍化之后，陆地棉演化出了能够生产更多纤维的能力，以提高其在恶劣环境下相对于优质纤维生产者海岛棉的生存能力。而目前对于这两个棉花种间分化的遗传和分子基础还不清楚。本文，作者报道了这两个棉花的高质量、从头组装的基因组，本文所报道的基因组版本在重复序列富集的着丝粒区域的质量有显著的提升。全基因组的比较分析显示物种特异性的基因表达变化、结构变异以及基因家族的扩张作用于这两个棉花的物种分化以及各自的演化历史。本文的研究有助于揭示棉花基因组的演化以及驯化历史。这些基因组信息不仅可以用于帮助育种者提升棉花的纤维质量以适应不断变化的环境条件，同样能够作为参考基因组用于其它作物的驯化或者育种研究。

通讯：张天真 (http://www.crigdaas.com/Personnel/Detail/1071.html)

个人简介：1978-1982年，浙江农业大学，作物遗传育种，学士；1983-1986年，南京农业大学，作物遗传育种，硕士；1987-1991年，南京农业大学，作物遗传育种，博士。

研究方向：主要从事棉花结构基因组、重要性状基因克隆与功能验证、多倍体遗传与分子进化和生物信息学等方面研究。

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-019-0371-5

Journal: Nature Genetics

Published date: March 18, 2019