Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #249365
Title: The Genome of the Cucumber, Cucumis Sativus L

Author
item HUANG, SANWEN - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LI, RUIQIANG - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHANG, ZHONGHUA - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LI, LI - Beijing Genome Institute
item GU, XINGFANG - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item FAN, WEI - Beijing Genome Institute
item LUCAS, WILLIAM - University Of California
item WANG, XIAOWU - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item XIE, BINGYAN - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item NI, PEIXIANG - Beijing Genome Institute
item REN, YUANYUAN - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHU, HONGMEI - Beijing Genome Institute
item LI, JUN - Beijing Genome Institute
item LIN, KUI - Beijing Normal University
item JIN, WEIWEI - China Agricultural University
item FEI, ZHANGIUM - Cornell University
item LI, GUANGCUN - Shandong Agricultural University
item Staub, Jack
item KILIAN, ANDRZEJ - Diversity Arrays Technology
item VAN DER VOSSEN, EDWIN - Wageningen Agricultural University
item WU, YANG - Beijing Normal University
item GUO, JIE - Beijing Normal University
item HE, JUN - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item JIA, ZHIQI - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item REN, YI - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item TIAN, GENG - Beijing Genome Institute
item LU, YAO - Beijing Genome Institute
item RUAN, JUE - Beijing Genome Institute
item QIAN, WUBIN - Beijing Genome Institute
item WANG, MINGWEI - Beijing Genome Institute
item HUANG, QUANFEI - Beijing Genome Institute
item LI, BO - Beijing Genome Institute
item XUAN, ZHAOLING - Beijing Genome Institute
item CAO, JIANJUN - Beijing Genome Institute
item WU, ZHIGANG - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHANG, JUANBIN - Beijing Genome Institute
item CAI, QINGLE - Beijing Genome Institute
item BAI, YINQI - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHAO, BOWEN - Renmin University Of China
item HAN, YONGHUA - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LI, YING - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LI, XUEFENG - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item WANG, SHENHAO - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item SHI, QIUXIANG - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LIU, SHIQIANG - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item CHO, WON - Gyeongsang National University
item KIM, JAE-YEAN - Gyeongsang National University
item XU, YONG - National Engineering Center For Vegetables
item HELLER-USZYNSKA, KATARZYNA - Diversity Arrays Technology
item MIAO, HAN - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item CHENG, ZHOUCHAO - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item ZHANG, SHENGPING - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item WU, JIAN - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item YANG, YUHONG - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item KANG, HOUXIANG - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LI, MAN - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LIANG, HUIQING - Beijing Genome Institute
item REN, XIAOLI - Beijing Genome Institute
item SHI, ZHONGBIN - Beijing Genome Institute
item WEN, MING - Beijing Genome Institute
item JIAN, MIN - Beijing Genome Institute
item YANG, HAILONG - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHANG, GUOJIE - Beijing Genome Institute
item YANG, ZHENTAO - Beijing Genome Institute
item CHEN, RUI - Beijing Genome Institute
item LIU, SHIFANG - Beijing Genome Institute
item LI, JIANWEN - Beijing Genome Institute
item MA, LIJIA - Beijing Genome Institute
item LIU, HUI - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHOU, YAN - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHAO, JING - Beijing Genome Institute
item FANG, XIAODONG - Beijing Genome Institute
item LI, GUOQING - Beijing Genome Institute
item FANG, LIN - Beijing Genome Institute
item LI, YINGRUI - Beijing Genome Institute
item LIU, DONGYUAN - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHENG, HONGKUN - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHANG, YONG - Beijing Genome Institute
item QIN, NAN - Beijing Genome Institute
item LI, ZHUO - Beijing Genome Institute
item YANG, GUOHUA - Beijing Genome Institute
item YANG, SHUANG - Beijing Genome Institute
item BOLUND, LARS - Beijing Genome Institute
item KRISTIANSEN, KARSTEN - Copenhagen University
item ZHENG, HANCHENG - Beijing Genome Institute
item LI, SHAOCHUAN - Beijing Genome Institute
item ZHANG, XIUQING - Beijing Genome Institute
item YANG, HUANMING - Beijing Genome Institute
item WANG, JIAN - Beijing Genome Institute
item SUN, RIFEI - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item ZHANG, BAOXI - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item JIANG, SHUZHI - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item WANG, JUN - Beijing Genome Institute
item DU, YONGCHEN - Ministry Of Agriculture - China
item LI, SONGGANG - Beijing Genome Institute

Submitted to: Nature Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2009
Publication Date: 11/1/2009
Citation: Huang, S., Li, R., Zhang, Z., Li, L., Gu, X., Fan, W., Lucas, W., Wang, X., Xie, B., Ni, P., Ren, Y., Zhu, H., Li, J., Lin, K., Jin, W., Fei, Z., Li, G., Staub, J.E., Kilian, A., Van Der Vossen, E.A., Wu, Y., Guo, J., He, J., Jia, Z., Ren, Y., Tian, G., Lu, Y., Ruan, J., Qian, W., Wang, M., Huang, Q., Li, B., Xuan, Z., Cao, J., Wu, Z., Zhang, J., Cai, Q., Bai, Y., Zhao, B., Han, Y., Li, Y., Li, X., Wang, S., Shi, Q., Liu, S., Cho, W.K., Kim, J., Xu, Y., Heller-Uszynska, K., Miao, H., Cheng, Z., Zhang, S., Wu, J., Yang, Y., Kang, H., Li, M., Liang, H., Ren, X., Shi, Z., Wen, M., Jian, M., Yang, H., Zhang, G., Yang, Z., Chen, R., Liu, S., Li, J., Ma, L., Liu, H., Zhou, Y., Zhao, J., Fang, X., Li, G., Fang, L., Li, Y., Liu, D., Zheng, H., Zhang, Y., Qin, N., Li, Z., Yang, G., Yang, S., Bolund, L., Kristiansen, K., Zheng, H., Li, S., Zhang, X., Yang, H., Wang, J., Sun, R., Zhang, B., Jiang, S., Wang, J., Du, Y., Li, S. 2009. The Genome of the Cucumber, Cucumis Sativus L. Nature Genetics. 41(12):1275-1281.

Interpretive Summary: Cucurbit vegetable species include squash, watermelon, melon, and cucumber. Agricultural production of cucurbits uses 9 million hectares of land and yields 184 million tons of vegetables, fruits and seeds annually. Cucumber is the third most widely grown vegetable crop worldwide. It has also been used as a model crop for many genetic studies. Despite the agricultural and biological importance of cucurbits, knowledge of their genetics (the inheritance of horticulturally important traits) and genome (the location and DNA composition of genes which control traits) is currently very limited. The genome of cucumber is made up of a linear order of DNA that is called a sequence. A study was designed to determine the order of the DNA sequence in cucumber to learn more about its genome or the nature of horticulturally important traits. The sequenced cucumber genome affords insight into traits such as its sex expression, disease resistance, bitterness in fruits, and ‘fresh green’ odor. The cucumber genome was sequenced. The cucumber genome provides a valuable resource for developing improved cultivars and for studying its evolution. The information obtained from this study adds dramatically to our knowledge of cucumber genetics and will allow plant breeders to be more effective in developing strategies for cucumber improvement. This increase in effectiveness will result in the development of improved cultivars that will increase the global competitiveness of the U.S. grower.

Technical Abstract: Cucumber is an economically important crop as well as a model system for sex determination studies and plant vascular biology. Here we report the draft genome sequence of Cucumis sativus var. sativus L., assembled using a novel combination of traditional Sanger and next-generation Illumina GA sequencing technologies to obtain 72.2-fold genome coverage. The absence of recent whole-genome duplication, along with the presence of few tandem duplications, explains the small number of genes in the cucumber. Our study establishes that five of the cucumber’s seven chromosomes arose from fusions of ten ancestral chromosomes after divergence from Cucumis melo. The sequenced cucumber genome affords insight into traits such as its sex expression, disease resistance, biosynthesis of cucurbitacin and ‘fresh green’ odor. We also identify 686 gene clusters related to phloem function. The cucumber genome provides a valuable resource for developing elite cultivars and for studying the evolution and function of the plant vascular system.