Chromosome-level genome of the transformable northern wattle, Acacia crassicarpa

Abstract

The genus Acacia is a large group of woody legumes containing an enormous amount of morphological diversity in leaf shape. This diversity is at least in part the result of an innovation in leaf development where many Acacia species are capable of developing leaves of both bifacial and unifacial morphology. While not unique in the plant kingdom, unifaciality is most commonly associated with monocots, and its developmental genetic mechanisms have yet to be explored beyond this group. Here we identify an accession of Acacia crassicarpa with high regeneration rates, and isolate a clone for genome sequencing. We generate a chromosome level assembly of this readily transformable clone and using comparative analyses confirm a whole genome duplication unique to Caesalpinoid legumes. This resource will be important for future work examining genome evolution in legumes and the unique developmental genetic mechanisms underlying unifacial morphogenesis in Acacia.