abstract
Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) is an ecologically and economically important evergreen tree species native to the Mediterranean region and widespread in southwest Europe and northwest Africa. An improved genome assembly of cork oak using a combination of Illumina and PacBio sequencing is presented in this study. The assembled genome contains 2351 scaffolds longer than 1000 bp, accounting for 765.7 Mbp of genome size, L90 of 755, and a N50 of 1.0 Mbp, with 40,131 annotated genes. The repetitive sequences constitute 53.6% of the genome. The genome sequences of chloroplast and mitochondrion were determined for the first time, with a genome size of 161,179 bp and 531,858 bp, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on complete chloroplast genome sequence showed that Q. suber is closely related to Quercus variabilis, two cork-producing species with commercial use. All data generated are available through the public databases, being ready to be used without restrictions. This study provides an improved nuclear genome assembly together with the organelle genomes of cork oak. These resources will be useful for further breeding strategies and conservation programs and for comparative genomic studies in oak species.
keywords
ANNOTATION; ALIGNMENT; TOOL
subject category
Forestry; Genetics & Heredity; Agriculture
authors
Usié, A; Serra, O; Barros, PM; Barbosa, P; Leao, C; Capote, T; Almeida, T; Rodrigues, L; Carrasquinho, I; Guimaraes, JB; Mendoça, D; Nóbrega, F; Egas, C; Chaves, I; Abreu, IA; Saibo, NJM; Marum, L; Varela, MC; Matos, J; Simoes, F; Miguel, CM; Oliveira, MM; Ricardo, CP; Gonçalves, S; Ramos, AM
Groups
acknowledgements
Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This research was funded by InAlentejo under the scope of "GenoSuber-Cork oak genome sequencing" (ALENT-07-0224-FEDER-001754), and by Alentejo2020, through FEDER under the scope "Lentidev-A genomic approach to cork quality" (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-000020) and by Program PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, under the scope of Biodata.pt-Infraestrutura Portuguesa de Dados Biologicos (22231/01/SAICT/2016), through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT), I.P., is acknowledged for funding researchers: Contrato-Programa to L. Marum (CEECINST/00131/2018), Contrato-Programa to A. Usie (CEECINST/00100/2021/CP2774/CT0001), and Research Contract to P. M. Barros (DL57/2016/CP1369/CT0029). O. Serra was funded by a Post-Doc fellowship under the research project "FASTBREED: implementation of a breeding program on wheat varieties based on genomic selection" (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-000018). We also thank FCT for the financial support to Research Units UIDB/05183/2020 (MED-Med-iterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development) and GREEN-IT-Bioresources for Sustainability (UIDB/04551/2020, UIDP/04551/2020) as well as LS4FUTURE (LA/P/0087/2020) Associated Laboratory.