Abstract
Snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L.), which belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, is a popular ornamental and food crop species with medicinal value and is grown in many parts of the world. Although progress has been made in its genetic improvement, the organization, composition, and evolution of the snake gourd genome remain largely unknown. Here, we report a high-quality genome assembly for snake gourd, comprising 202 contigs, with a total size of 919.8 Mb and an N50 size of 20.1 Mb. These findings indicate that snake gourd has one of the largest genomes of Cucurbitaceae species sequenced to date. The snake gourd genome assembly harbors 22,874 protein-coding genes and 80.0% of the genome consists of repetitive sequences. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that snake gourd is closely related to sponge gourd but diverged from their common ancestor ~33–47 million years ago. The genome sequence reported here serves as a valuable resource for snake gourd genetic research and comparative genomic studies in Cucurbitaceae and other plant species. In addition, fruit transcriptome analysis reveals the candidate genes related to quality traits during snake gourd fruit development and provides a basis for future research on snake gourd fruit development and ripening at the transcript level.
Highlights
As the second largest vegetable family, the Cucurbitaceae family comprises one of the most genetically diverse groups of plants
Assemble, annotate, and comparatively analyze the snake gourd genome to provide a basis for future investigations and improvement of this species
This is the first report of a high-quality genome for snake gourd, which has one of the largest genomes of Cucurbitaceae species sequenced to date
Summary
As the second largest vegetable family, the Cucurbitaceae family comprises one of the most genetically diverse groups of plants. The members of this family are prevalent in tropical regions[1,2] and many species are cultivated worldwide as food crops. Snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L.; 2n = 2× = 22) is a diploid annual woody ( the name snake gourd), and are used for ornamental purposes when they are mature. Their functional constituents include flavonoids, β-carotenoids, lycopene, Ma et al Horticulture Research (2020)7:199. The evolutionary history of the snake gourd genome remains largely unexplored
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