Draft genome and transcriptome of Nepenthes mirabilis, a carnivorous plant in China

Abstract

Objectives Nepenthes belongs to the monotypic family Nepenthaceae, one of the largest carnivorous plant families. Nepenthes species show impressive adaptive radiation and suffer from being overexploited in nature. Nepenthes mirabilis is the most widely distributed species and the only Nepenthes species that is naturally distributed within China. Herein, we reported the genome and transcriptome assemblies of N. mirabilis. The assemblies will be useful resources for comparative genomics, to understand the adaptation and conservation of carnivorous species. Data description This work produced ~ 139.5 Gb N. mirabilis whole genome sequencing reads using leaf tissues, and ~ 21.7 Gb and ~ 27.9 Gb of raw RNA-seq reads for its leaves and flowers, respectively. Transcriptome assembly obtained 339,802 transcripts, in which 79,758 open reading frames (ORFs) were identified. Function analysis indicated that these ORFs were mainly associated with proteolysis and DNA integration. The assembled genome was 691,409,685 bp with 159,555 contigs/scaffolds and an N50 of 10,307 bp. The BUSCO assessment of the assembled genome and transcriptome indicated 91.1% and 93.7% completeness, respectively. A total of 42,961 genes were predicted in the genome identified, coding for 45,461 proteins. The predicted genes were annotated using multiple databases, facilitating future functional analyses of them. This is the first genome report on the Nepenthaceae family.

Molecular Phylogenomics Reveals the Deep Evolutionary History of Carnivory across Land Plants

“…The only other published carnivorous genome assembly to contain some whole-chromosome pseudomolecules is Utricularia gibba, the humped bladderwort [62]. While N. gracilis and U. gibba are the only (at least partially) chromosome-level genome assemblies to date, other less contiguous and less complete assemblies have been published and have provided important insights into the evolution of carnivory, such as Genlisea aurea [63], G. nigrocaulis, G. hispidula [64], and Utricularia reniformis [65] in the Lentibulariaceae (Lamiales), Roridula gorgonias [66] in the Roridulaceae (Ericales), Nepenthes mirabilis [67] in the Nepenthaceae (Caryophyllales), Aldrovanda vesiculosa, Dionaea muscipula, Drosera spatulata [68] and Drosera capensis [69] in the Droseraceae (Caryophyllales), and Cephalotus follicularis [70] in the Cephalotaceae (Oxalidales). Here, we discuss some of the recent research on genome evolution in carnivorous plants.…”

The Genome Sequences of 17 Species of Carnivorous Plants

“…The modified leaves of these species represent diverse prey-trapping mechanisms, including adhesive, pitfall and snap traps. In addition to previously published carnivorous plant genomes (for example, Palfalvi et al 2020;and Gao et al 2023), these sequences provide a resource to the community to better understand the evolution of these most unusual and charismatic plants.…”