Genomic insights into the evolution and adaptation of the memorial roses (Rosa lucieae; Rosaceae) in saline environments

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Rosa lucieae (syn. Rosa wichurana ; Rosaceae), also known as the memorial rose, is one of the major wild progenitors of modern rose cultivars. In breeding roses, R. lucieae has contributed not only to white blooms and shiny leaves, but most of all, to succeed in various harsh conditions and high resistance to diseases and pests. The wild R. lucieae inhabits littoral sand banks or rocks, where drought stress and high salinity may inhibit plant growth. In this study, we assembled the chromosome-level genome sequence of a wild accession of R. lucieae and identified potential genes that may aid in the evolution of salt tolerance. The assembly is 544.7 Mb length and contains 36,876 protein-coding genes. The gene family evolution analysis revealed that rapid evolution of stress tolerant functions in R. lucieae , such as Ca 2+ -mediated signaling, homeostasis, protein repair, or root growth. Moreover, the gene expression analysis found that some genetic functions related to salt tolerant responses were enriched, including MAPK and phytohormone signaling. The first high-quality genome assembly of wild R. lucieae not only contributes significantly to our understanding of genome organization and some adaptive mechanisms in R. lucieae , but it also may enhance our efforts in rose breeding programs.