The chromosome-level genome assembly and genes involved in biosynthesis of nervonic acid of Malania oleifera

Nervonic acid (C24:1 Delta 15, NA) is a very long-chain monounsaturated fatty acid, a clinically indispensable resource in maintaining the brain and nerve cells development and regeneration. Till now, NA has been found in 38 plant species, among which the garlic-fruit tree (Malania oleifera) has been evaluated to be the best candidate for NA production. Here, we generated a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of M. oleifera employing PacBio long-read, short-read Illumina as well as Hi-C sequencing data. The genome assembly consisted of 1.5 Gb with a contig N50 of similar to 4.9 Mb and a scaffold N50 of similar to 112.6 Mb. similar to 98.2% of the assembly was anchored into 13 pseudo-chromosomes. It contains similar to 1123 Mb repeat sequences, and 27,638 protein-coding genes, 568 tRNAs, 230 rRNAs and 352 other non-coding RNAs. Additionally, we documented candidate genes involved in NA biosynthesis including 20 KCSs, 4 KCRs, 1 HCD and 1 ECR, and profiled the expression patterns of these genes in developing seeds. The high-quality assembly of the genome provides insights into the genome evolution of the M. oleifera genome and candidate genes involved in NA biosynthesis in the seeds of this important woody tree.

Automated summary

By using PacBio long-read, short-read Illumina, and Hi-C sequencing data, we generated a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the M. oleifera genome, which provides important references for studying the genome evolution and nervonic acid biosynthesis of this plant.