Reference Publication(s)

Qiao Q, Edger PP, Xue L, Qiong L, Lu J, Zhang Y, Cao Q, Yocca AE, Platts AE, Knapp SJ, Van Montagu M, Van de Peer Y, Lei J, Zhang T. Evolutionary history and pan-genome dynamics of strawberry (Fragaria spp.). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Nov 9;118(45):e2105431118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2105431118.

Significance

Strawberry (Fragaria spp.) has emerged as a model system for various fundamental and applied research in recent years. In total, the genomes of five different species have been sequenced over the past ten years. Here, we report chromosome-scale reference genomes for five strawberry species, including three newly sequenced species’ genomes, and genome re-sequencing data for 128 additional accessions to estimate the genetic diversity and structure of key Fragaria species. Our analyses obtained fully resolved and strongly supported phylogenies and divergence times for most diploid strawberry species. These analyses also uncovered a new diploid species (F. emeiensis Lei). Lastly, we constructed a pan-genome for Fragaria and examined the evolutionary dynamics of gene families associated with important agronomic traits. Notably, we identified multiple independent single base mutations of the MYB10 gene associated with white pigmented fruit shared by different strawberry species. These new reference genomes and datasets, combined with our new phylogenetic estimates, should serve as a powerful comparative genomic platform and resource for future studies in strawberry.

Assembly statistics