Johnsongrass genome assembly and annotation

Johnsongrass [Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers] is a rhizomatous perennial grass species and one of the most troublesome weeds in global agriculture. Despite many years of research effort, the genetic factors influencing variable rates of crop-wild hybridization with cultivated sorghum [S. bicolor (L.) Moench] remain poorly understood. Here, we report the first high-quality Johnsongrass reference genome with a total size of 3.26 Gb and BUSCO completeness of 95.3%. We also report the first evolutionary analysis of INHIBITION OF ALIEN POLLEN(IAP), the only known cross-(in)compatibility locus in the genus. Our results reveal an evolutionary history of genome instability and suggest that J-37 may function as a diploid or aneuploid during meiosis. Genome instability could explain observations of variable ploidies in Johnsongrass and facilitate ongoing hybridization with sorghum where gamete ploidies and IAP alleles match. Collectively, this work will bolster efforts to manage reproductive biology and clarify systematics in the Sorghum genus.

This Whole Genome Shotgun project has been deposited at DDBJ/ENA/GenBank under the accession JBNJQS000000000. The version provided herein is version JBNJQS010000000.

This project is a collaboration between Dr. Melinda Yerka myerka@unr.edu, from University of Nevada, Reno and Dr. Yinping Jiao yijiao@ttu.edu, from Texas Tech University and other collaborators.

Data for Downloading:

JG_gene_highquality_set_aed03.CDS.fasta

JG_gene_highquality_set_aed03.gff

JG_gene_highquality_set_aed03.prot.fasta

JG_genome_assembly