Genome sequences of five Sitopsis species of Aegilops and the origin of polyploid wheat B subgenome

Lin-Feng Li*, Zhi-Bin Zhang, Zhen-Hui Wang, Ning Li, Yan Sha, Xin-Feng Wang, Ning Ding, Yang Li, Jing Zhao, Ying Wu, Lei Gong, Fabrizio Mafessoni, Avraham A Levy*, Bao Liu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

87 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum, BBAADD) is a major staple food crop worldwide. The diploid progenitors of the A and D subgenomes have been unequivocally identified; that of B, however, remains ambiguous and controversial but is suspected to be related to species of Aegilops, section Sitopsis. Here, we report the assembly of chromosome-level genome sequences of all five Sitopsis species, namely Aegilops bicornis, Ae. longissima, Ae. searsii, Ae. sharonensis, and Ae. speltoides, as well as the partial assembly of the Amblyopyrum muticum (synonym Aegilops mutica) genome for phylogenetic analysis. Our results reveal that the donor of the common wheat B subgenome is a distinct, and most probably extinct, diploid species that diverged from an ancestral progenitor of the B lineage to which the still extant Ae. speltoides and Am. muticum belong. In addition, we identified interspecific genetic introgressions throughout the evolution of the Triticum/Aegilops species complex. The five Sitopsis species have various assembled genome sizes (4.11–5.89 Gb) with high proportions of repetitive sequences (85.99%–89.81%); nonetheless, they retain high collinearity with other genomes or subgenomes of species in the Triticum/Aegilops complex. Differences in genome size were primarily due to independent post-speciation amplification of transposons. We also identified a set of Sitopsis genes pertinent to important agronomic traits that can be harnessed for wheat breeding. These newly assembled genome resources provide a new roadmap for evolutionary and genetic studies of the Triticum/Aegilops complex, as well as for wheat improvement.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)488-503
Number of pages16
JournalMolecular Plant
Volume15
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Mar 2022

Funding

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Molecular Biology
  • Plant Science

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