SummaryPomegranate (Punica granatum L.) has an ancient cultivation history and has become an emerging profitable fruit crop due to its attractive features such as the bright red appearance and the high abundance of medicinally valuable ellagitannin‐based compounds in its peel and aril. However, the limited genomic resources have restricted further elucidation of genetics and evolution of these interesting traits. Here, we report a 274‐Mb high‐quality draft pomegranate genome sequence, which covers approximately 81.5% of the estimated 336‐Mb genome, consists of 2177 scaffolds with an N50 size of 1.7 Mb and contains 30 903 genes. Phylogenomic analysis supported that pomegranate belongs to the Lythraceae family rather than the monogeneric Punicaceae family, and comparative analyses showed that pomegranate and Eucalyptus grandis share the paleotetraploidy event. Integrated genomic and transcriptomic analyses provided insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of ellagitannin‐based compounds, the colour formation in both peels and arils during pomegranate fruit development, and the unique ovule development processes that are characteristic of pomegranate. This genome sequence provides an important resource to expand our understanding of some unique biological processes and to facilitate both comparative biology studies and crop breeding.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) with an uncertain taxonomic status has an ancient cultivation history, and has become an emerging fruit due to its attractive features such as the bright red appearance and the high abundance of medicinally valuable ellagitannin-based compounds in its peel and aril. However, the absence of genomic resources has restricted further elucidating genetics and evolution of these interesting traits. Here we report a 274-Mb high-quality draft pomegranate genome sequence, which covers approximately 81.5% of the estimated 336 Mb genome, consists of 2,177 scaffolds with an N50 size of 1.7 Mb, and contains 30,903 genes. Phylogenomic analysis supported that pomegranate belongs to the Lythraceae family rather than the monogeneric Punicaceae family, and comparative analyses showed that pomegranate and Eucalyptus grandis shares the paleotetraploidy event. Integrated genomic and transcriptomic analyses provided insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of ellagitannin-based compounds, the color formation in both peels and arils during pomegranate fruit development, and the unique ovule development processes that are characteristic of pomegranate. This genome sequence represents the first reference in Lythraceae, providing an important resource to expand our understanding of some unique biological processes and to facilitate both comparative biology studies and crop breeding.
Pomegranate is a 'super fruit' that is always adaptable to a saline environment. To elucidate the mechanism underlying the response to salinity, we investigated the effects of NaCl stress on growth and ion balance in six-month-old self-rooted pomegranate cuttings. The plants were fertigated with halfstrength Hoagland's solution containing 0 (control), 100, 200, or 300 mM NaCl every six days. After 18 days, the growth parameter was determined, and dry samples of root, stem and leaf were analyzed for ion content. We found that the growth of pomegranate was not inhibited under 100 mM NaCl stress. With the increased salinity level, excessive accumulations of Na + and Cloccurred in the pomegranate tissues and the net accumulations were ranked as leaf > root > stem. The uptake of K + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ was enhanced at low salinity (100 mM) and inhibited at high salinity (300 mM). With increasing salinity, the K + contents in the roots and leaves initially increased and then decreased, with peaks at 200 mM NaCl. The Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ contents increased in the leaves and decreased in the roots. The absorptions of NO 3 and SO 4 2were inhibited by salt stress, but the H 2 PO 4 uptake had no obvious change. The ion ratio and transport coefficient of pomegranate tissues were significantly lower under stress than in controls, but the K + /Na + and Ca 2+ / Na + ratios of the roots and stems were higher than 1 at 100 mM. This study revealed that salinity affected the ion balance in pomegranate tissues through impeding the ion uptake, accumulation and transport. Furthermore, this pomegranate cultivar 'Taishanhong' can adapt to 100 mM NaCl stress by maintaining a stable or higher uptake of K + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ to mitigate the detrimental effects of Na + and Clin the cells.
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