Abstract
Vallisneria spinulosa is a freshwater aquatic plant of ecological and economic importance. However, there is limited cytogenetic and genomics information on Vallisneria. In this study, we measured the nuclear DNA content of Vallisneria spinulosa by flow cytometry, performed a de novo assembly, and annotated repetitive sequences by using a combination of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics tools. The genome size of Vallisneria spinulosa is approximately 3,595 Mbp, in which nearly 60% of the genome consists of repetitive sequences. The majority of the repetitive sequences are LTR-retrotransposons comprising 43% of the genome. Although the amount of sequencing data used in this study was not sufficient for a whole-genome assembly, it could generate an overview of representative elements in the genome. These results will lay a new foundation for further studies on various species that belong to the Vallisneria genus.
Highlights
Vallisneria, commonly called eelgrass, is a genus of freshwater aquatic plant
Population genetic analysis revealed that V. spinulosa maintained high levels of genetic variation within populations and low subdivision among populations in ten lakes separated by approximately 900 km in the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Chen, Xu & Huang, 2007)
The nuclear DNA content of Vallisneria spinulosa was measured by flow cytometry
Summary
Vallisneria, commonly called eelgrass, is a genus of freshwater aquatic plant. This genus consists of over 12 species worldwide and is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America (Les et al, 2008). (Baron et al, 2002) It usually occurs sympatrically in the middle to lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China (Wang et al, 2010) and is thought to be endemic to China (Xie, Deng & Wang, 2007). This species can provide food for waterfowl, nursery habitats for fish, and a substrate for invertebrates and may have a strong influence on water quality (Wang et al, 2010).
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