The first legume green manure crop chromosome level genome assembly is completed

Image courtesy of Zi Yunying Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Recently, the fertilizer and fertilization technical team of the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Agricultural Regional Planning of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences completed the assembly of the chromosome-level reference genome of the first legume green manure crop-Astragalus vitis Genetic basis
.

Researcher Cao Weidong introduced that Astragalus sinicus, also known as safflower, saffron, etc.
, is native to China and belongs to the leguminous astragalus crop.
It is mainly distributed in East Asian countries such as China, South Korea, and Japan, and is the most important in southern China.
Green manure crops and cover crops
.

The research team used the third-generation PacBio, the second-generation Illumina technology and high-throughput chromosome capture technology to perform whole-genome sequencing
.

The study found that the Astragalus vitis-niformis genome contains 59.
84% of the repetitive sequences, and the number and length of the long-terminal repeats are significantly increased, which leads to the amplification of the Astragalus vitisiniae genome
.

In the course of evolution, the key symbiotic nodulation genes were retained in the genome-wide duplication events shared by Astragalus vitis and Papilionidae
.

The expression of disease resistance genes in astragalus, alfalfa, and soybeans in roots is higher than that in root nodules.
The enrichment of disease resistance genes in roots may enhance the immunity of roots and compensate for the weakening of plant defenses during symbiosis
.

This research is supported by projects such as the National Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System, the Science and Technology Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the National Crop Germplasm Bank and Green Manure Sub-bank
.

Related paper information: https://doi.