AUTHOR=Ouadi Sonia , Sierro Nicolas , Kessler Felix , Ivanov Nikolai V. 

TITLE=Chromosome-scale assemblies of S. malaccense, S. aqueum, S. jambos, and S. syzygioides provide insights into the evolution of Syzygium genomes

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1248780

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2023.1248780

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Syzygium</italic> is a large and diverse tree genus in the Myrtaceae family. Genome assemblies for clove (<italic>Syzygium aromaticum</italic>, 370 Mb) and sea apple (<italic>Syzygium grande</italic>, 405 Mb) provided the first insights into the genomic features and evolution of the <italic>Syzygium</italic> genus. Here, we present additional <italic>de novo</italic> chromosome-scale genome assemblies for <italic>Syzygium malaccense, Syzygium aqueum, Syzygium jambos</italic>, and <italic>Syzygium syzygioides.</italic> Genome profiling analyses show that <italic>S. malaccense</italic>, like <italic>S. aromaticum</italic> and <italic>S. grande</italic>, is diploid (2n = 2x = 22), while the <italic>S. aqueum</italic>, <italic>S. jambos</italic>, and <italic>S. syzygioides</italic> specimens are autotetraploid (2n = 4x = 44). The genome assemblies of <italic>S. malaccense</italic> (430 Mb), <italic>S. aqueum</italic> (392 Mb), <italic>S. jambos</italic> (426 Mb), and <italic>S. syzygioides</italic> (431 Mb) are highly complete (BUSCO scores of 98%). Comparative genomics analyses showed conserved organization of the 11 chromosomes with <italic>S. aromaticum</italic> and <italic>S. grande</italic>, and revealed species-specific evolutionary dynamics of the long terminal repeat retrotransposon elements belonging to the Gypsy and Copia lineages. This set of <italic>Syzygium</italic> genomes is a valuable resource for future structural and functional comparative genomic studies on Myrtaceae species.</p>