A high-quality pseudo-phased genome for Melaleuca quinquenervia shows allelic diversity of NLR-type resistance genes
Date
2023
Authors
Chen, Stephanie
Martino, Alyssa
Luo, Zhenyan
Schwessinger, Benjamin
Jones, Ashley
Tolessa, Tamene
Bragg, Jason
Tobias, P A
Edwards, Richard J
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BioMed Central Ltd.
Abstract
Background: Melaleuca quinquenervia (broad-leaved paperbark) is a coastal wetland tree species that serves as a foundation species in eastern Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia. While extensively cultivated for its ornamental value, it has also become invasive in regions like Florida, USA. Long-lived trees face diverse pest and pathogen pressures, and plant stress responses rely on immune receptors encoded by the nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) gene family. However, the comprehensive annotation of NLR encoding genes has been challenging due to their clustering arrangement on chromosomes and highly repetitive domain structure; expansion of the NLR gene family is driven largely by tandem duplication. Additionally, the allelic diversity of the NLR gene family remains largely unexplored in outcrossing tree species, as many genomes are presented in their haploid, collapsed state. Results: We assembled a chromosome-level pseudo-phased genome for M. quinquenervia and described the allelic diversity of plant NLRs using the novel FindPlantNLRs pipeline. Analysis reveals variation in the number of NLR genes on each haplotype, distinct clustering patterns, and differences in the types and numbers of novel integrated domains. Conclusions: The high-quality M. quinquenervia genome assembly establishes a new framework for functional and evolutionary studies of this significant tree species. Our findings suggest that maintaining allelic diversity within the NLR gene family is crucial for enabling responses to environmental stress, particularly in long-lived plants.
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Keywords
NLR, resistance genes, Melaleuca quinquenervia genome, FindPlantNLRs, broad-leaved paperbark
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GigaScience
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Journal article
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Open Access
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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