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Title: The flying spider-monkey tree fern genome provides insights into fern evolution and arborescence

Journal Article · · Nature Plants (Online)
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  1. Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing (China); University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Plant Biology
  2. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen (China)
  3. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing (China)
  4. Thompson Inst., Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
  5. National Tsing Hua Univ., Hsinchu (Taiwan)
  6. Beijing Forestry Univ. (China)
  7. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  8. International Center for Bamboo and Rattan, Beijing (China)
  9. Northeast Forestry Univ., Harbin (China)
  10. Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing (China)
  11. Qingdao Agricultural Univ. (China)
  12. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  13. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  14. Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
  15. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

To date, little is known about the evolution of fern genomes, with only two small genomes published from the heterosporous Salviniales. Here we assembled the genome of Alsophila spinulosa, known as the flying spider-monkey tree fern, onto 69 pseudochromosomes. The remarkable preservation of synteny, despite resulting from an ancient whole-genome duplication over 100 million years ago, is unprecedented in plants and probably speaks to the uniqueness of tree ferns. Our detailed investigations into stem anatomy and lignin biosynthesis shed new light on the evolution of stem formation in tree ferns. We identified a phenolic compound, alsophilin, that is abundant in xylem, and we provided the molecular basis for its biosynthesis. Finally, analysis of demographic history revealed two genetic bottlenecks, resulting in rapid demographic declines of A. spinulosa. The A. spinulosa genome fills a crucial gap in the plant genomic landscape and helps elucidate many unique aspects of tree fern biology.

Research Organization:
Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Madison, WI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Fundamental Research Funds of Chinese Academy of Forestry; CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences; PUMC Disciplinary Development of Synthetic Biology
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0018409
OSTI ID:
1876025
Journal Information:
Nature Plants (Online), Journal Name: Nature Plants (Online) Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 8; ISSN 2055-0278
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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