A High-Quality Haplotype-Resolved Genome of Common Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.) Provides Insights Into Polyploid Genome Stability and Prostrate Growth
Bing Zhang, Si Chen, Jianxiu Liu, Jianxiu Liu, Yong‐Bin Yan, Jingbo Chen, Dandan Li, Jinyuan Liu, Jinyuan Liu
Abstract
Common bermudagrass ( Cynodon dactylon L.) is an important perennial warm-season turfgrass species with great economic value. However, the reference genome is still deficient in C. dactylon , which severely impedes basic studies and breeding studies. In this study, a high-quality haplotype-resolved genome of C. dactylon cultivar Yangjiang was successfully assembled using a combination of multiple sequencing strategies. The assembled genome is approximately 1.01 Gb in size and is comprised of 36 pseudo chromosomes belonging to four haplotypes. In total, 76,879 protein-coding genes and 529,092 repeat sequences were annotated in the assembled genome. Evolution analysis indicated that C. dactylon underwent two rounds of whole-genome duplication events, whereas syntenic and transcriptome analysis revealed that global subgenome dominance was absent among the four haplotypes. Genome-wide gene family analyses further indicated that homologous recombination-regulating genes and tiller-angle-regulating genes all showed an adaptive evolution in C. dactylon , providing insights into genome-scale regulation of polyploid genome stability and prostrate growth. These results not only facilitate a better understanding of the complex genome composition and unique plant architectural characteristics of common bermudagrass, but also offer a valuable resource for comparative genome analyses of turfgrasses and other plant species.