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An improved Solanum verrucosum genome provides insight into potato centromeres and epigenetic regulation

Smith, M.; Kaur, A.; Singh, V.; Jones, J. T.; Hein, I.

2025-10-17 plant biology
10.1101/2025.10.17.683038 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Solanum verrucosum is a wild diploid potato species notable for carrying the uncharacterised Rpi-ver1 gene conferring resistance to Phytophthora infestans, possessing unusually structured centromeres, and exhibiting the rare trait of self-compatibility, the genetic basis of which remains unknown. Here, we present a high-quality genome assembly and annotation of S. verrucosum accession CPC54. A comprehensive inventory of resistance genes is provided, and candidate genes for Rpi-ver1 are identified through remapping approaches. The sequence and epigenetic landscape of centromeres are resolved, revealing a mosaic of repeatless and repetitive domains. These centromeres consist of tandem arrays of kilobase-sized repeats, some of which show signatures of transposable element origin. Specific subfamilies of CRM and Tekay elements appear to have adapted to centromeric regions. The basis of self-compatibility in S. verrucosum is investigated with respect to the S-RNase gene, which is found to be present and intact, but expressed at very low levels. Notably, upstream insertions of transposable elements are present that may interfere with its expression.

Published in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics (predicted rank #2) · training set

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