AUTHOR=Shen Lian-Ying , Luo Hang , Wang Xiao-Ling , Wang Xue-Meng , Qiu Xiao-Jing , Liu Hui , Zhou Shan-Shan , Jia Kai-Hua , Nie Shuai , Bao Yu-Tao , Zhang Ren-Gang , Yun Quan-Zheng , Chai Ying-Hui , Lu Jin-Ying , Li Yu , Zhao Shu-Wei , Mao Jian-Feng , Jia Shan-Gang , Mao Yong-Min 

TITLE=Chromosome-Scale Genome Assembly for Chinese Sour Jujube and Insights Into Its Genome Evolution and Domestication Signature

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.773090

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2021.773090

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Sour or wild jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill. var. spinosa) fruits and dried seeds are popular food all over the world. Here, we report a high-quality genome assembly of sour jujube, with a size of 406 Mbp and scaffold N50 of 30.3 Mbp, which experienced only γ hexaploidization event, without recent genome duplication. Population structure analysis identified four jujube subgroups (two domesticated ones, i.e., D1 in West China and D2 in East/SouthEast China, semi-wild and wild), which underwent an evolutionary history of a significant decline of effective population size during the Last Glacial Period. The respective selection signatures of three subgroups were discovered, such as strong peaks on chromosomes #3 in D1, #1 in D2, and #4 in wild. Genes under the most significant selection on chromosomes #4 in wild were confirmed to be involved in fruit variations among jujube accessions, in transcriptomic analysis. Our study offers novel insights into the jujube population structure and domestication, and pro-vides valuable genomic resources for jujube improvement in stress response and fruit flavor in the future.