Recently, Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Scienses (CRICATAS) in conjunction with BGI Genomics, has accomplished the genome sequencing, splicing and sequence analysis of Areca catechu L., the completion and publication of the whole genome sequencing of Hainan Areca catechu L. is the first time in the world. The research results was published online in 《Molecular Ecology Resources》（IF=7.090）, the Journal of JCR District 1of Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the title Chromosome-scale genome assembly of areca palm (Areca catechu).

In the research, we present a chromosome-scale reference genome assembly for areca by combining Illumina and PacBio data with Hi-C mapping technologies, covering the predicted A. catechu genome length. The assembly was 2.51 Gb in length with a scaffold N50 of 1.7Mb. The scaffolds were then further assembled into 16 pseudochromosomes, with an N50 of 172 Mb.

Found through research and analysis, the areca palm genome was predicted to harbour 31,571 protein-coding genes and overall, 92.92% of genes were functionally annotated, including enriched and expanded families of genes responsible for biosynthesis of flavonoid, anthocyanin, monoterpenoid and their derivatives. The release of the whole genome has opened the era of post genome of Areca catechu. The reference genome of "Reyan 1" of Areca catechu will provide an important reference genome for individual re-sequencing, functional gene mining (disease resistance, superior quality and specificity), formation mechanism research of important quality (soft fiber, high arecoline, etc.) and genome-wide association analysis, etc., which will provide the foundation of milestone for facilitating areca palm breeding and the molecular biology studies of areca palm.

This work has been supported by Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basic Research Fund and Species and Resources Conservation (Crop) Project, And other projects. Yang Yaodong, researcher and Huang Liyun, associate researcher of Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Xu Chunyan of BGI Genomics as co-first author, and Qin Weiquan, researcher of Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences as corresponding author.

Article link:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.13446