The Dogwood Genome Project: A Model for Woody Ornamental Genomics

山茱萸因其艳丽的花朵和细纹的木材而长期被种植。最近，随着美国对木质观赏植物的需求增长，山茱萸和相关绣球花的市场价值也有所增加。为了提高这些经济和文化上重要的树木和灌木的育种潜力，科学家们可以使用遗传学和先进的基因组学来研究关键的农艺性状，如花的特性、抗病性和应激反应。新的测序方法将在这个项目中结合起来，产生第一个山茱萸和绣球花的基因组序列，使研究小组能够确定新的标记和工具，以培育感兴趣的性状。该小组将研究开花茱萸的一些品种如何抵抗白粉病等破坏性疾病。这一信息将是重要的苗圃产业，并将推进更广泛的了解植物家族如何适应和应对疾病随着时间的推移。该项目将对学生、教师和育种人员进行培训，并将通过公民科学家收集美国山茱萸的发芽和开花时间的数据，与公众接触。该项目将为开花山茱萸（山茱萸佛罗里达）品种阿巴拉契亚之春产生高质量的参考基因组汇编和注释。这些资源，连同亚洲山茱萸（C. kousa）和绣球花（Hydrangea macrophylla）的基因组序列和基因空间组合、转录组图谱和高密度遗传标记，将为山茱萸、绣球花和其他木质观赏植物的研究和标记辅助育种提供基础。山茱萸和绣球花作为山茱萸科的成员，在被子植物系统发育中占有重要地位。建立开花茱萸基因组序列和分析方法，将为推进其他被子植物木质观赏植物（包括菊科、茄科和旋花科）的比较基因组学研究提供理想的催化剂。此外，该项目将通过比较分析佛罗里达和库萨两种抗性和敏感种质的mRNA和microRNA表达谱，研究白粉病抗性的分子基础。所有基因组序列和其他数据将通过国家生物信息中心（NCBI）、iPlant协作计划http://www.iplantcollaborative.org和Dryad数字资源库http://datadryad.org提供。

Dogwoods have long been cultivated for their showy flowers and fine-grained wood. Recently, the market value of dogwoods and related hydrangeas has increased as demand for woody ornamentals grows in the U.S. To advance the breeding potential of these economically and culturally important trees and shrubs, scientists can use genetics and advanced genomics to study critical agronomic traits such as flower characteristics, disease resistance and stress responses. New sequencing methods will be combined in this project to produce the first genome sequences for dogwoods and hydrangeas, allowing the research team to identify new markers and tools for breeding traits of interest. The team will study how some cultivars of flowering dogwood are resistant to damaging diseases such as powdery mildew. This information will be important to the nursery industry and will advance the broader understanding of how plant families have adapted and responded to diseases over time. The project will train students, teachers and breeders, and will reach out to the public by engaging citizen scientists to collect data on bud-break and flowering times for dogwoods in the U.S. This project will generate a high-­quality reference genome assembly and annotation for flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) cultivar Appalachian Spring. This resource, along with genome sequence and gene space assemblies for Asian kousa dogwood (C. kousa) and Hydrangea macrophylla, transcriptome atlases and high-density genetic markers, will provide a foundation for research and marker-assisted breeding for dogwoods, hydrangeas and other woody ornamentals. As members of the Cornales, dogwoods and hydrangea occupy a strategic position in the angiosperm phylogeny. Establishing sequences and analytical methods for the flowering dogwood genome will be an ideal catalyst for advancing comparative genomics across other angiosperm woody ornamentals, including members of the Asteraceae, Solanaceae and Convolvulaceae. In addition, the project will investigate the molecular basis of powdery mildew resistance through comparative analyses of mRNA and microRNA expression profiles in resistant and susceptible accessions of C. florida and C. kousa. All genome sequences and other data will be made available through the National Center of Biological Information (NCBI), the iPlant Collaborative http://www.iplantcollaborative.org and the Dryad Digital Repository http://datadryad.org.