Prickles act against herbivores, pathogens or mechanical injury, while also preventing water loss. However, whether prickles have new function and the molecular genetics of prickle patterning remain poorly explored. Here, we generated a high-quality reference genome assembly for ‘Basye’s Thornless’ (BT), a prickle-free cultivar of Rosa wichuraiana, to identify genetic elements related to stem prickle development. The BT genome harbors a high level of sequence diversity in itself and with cultivar ‘Old Blush’ (R. chinensis), a founder genotype in rose domestication. Inheritance of stem prickle density was determined and two QTL were identified. Differentially expressed genes in QTL were involved in water-related functions, suggesting that prickle density may hitchhike with adaptations to moist environments. While the prickle-related gene-regulatory-network (GRN) was highly conserved, the expression variation of key candidate genes was associated with prickle density. Our study provides fundamental resources and insights for genome evolution in the Rosaceae. Ongoing efforts on identification of the molecular bases for key rose traits may lead to improvements for horticultural markets.
Zhong M-C, Jiang X-D, Yang G-Q, Cui W-H, Suo Z-Q, Wang W-J, Sun Y-B,Wang D, Cheng X-C, Li X-M, Dong X, Tang K-X *, Li D-Z *, Hu J-Y *. Rose without stem prickle: genomic insights linked to moisture adaptation. National Science Review, 2021, 0:nwab092.
仲米财,蒋晓东,杨国骞,崔卫华,锁志全,王维嘉,孙弋博,王丹,程新超,李绪明,董雪,唐开学,李德铢,胡金勇
(2024). 两种月季基因组三代测序
. Scientific Data Center, Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS. https://data.iflora.cn/Home/DataContent?data_gd=9bd96114-1e9b-a14b-3cf3-debb30113c3a