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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Charleston, South Carolina » Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #336914
Title: Comparative Genomics of the Cucurbitaceae

Author
item NIMMAKAYALA, PADMA - West Virginia State University
item SAMINATHAN, THANGASAMY - West Virginia State University
item ABBURI, VENKATA - West Virginia State University
item YADAV, LAV - West Virginia State University
item TOMASON, YAN - West Virginia State University
item Levi, Amnon
item Weng, Yiqun
item REDDY, K - West Virginia State University

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2017
Publication Date: 6/15/2017
Citation: Nimmakayala, P., Saminathan, T., Abburi, V.L., Yadav, L.K., Tomason, Y., Levi, A., Weng, Y., Reddy, K.U. 2017. Comparative Genomics of the Cucurbitaceae. In: Grumet, R., Katzir, N., Garcia-Mas, J, editors. Plant Genetics and Genomics: Crops and Models. Springer International Publishing AG. 20:p. 229-240. https://doi:10.1007/7397_2017_2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7397_2017_2

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: The genome size for watermelon, melon, cucumber, and pumpkin is 425, 454, 367, and 502 Mbp, respectively, and considered medium size as compared with most other crops. Whole-genome duplication is common in angiosperm plants. Research has revealed a paleohexaploidy (') event in the common ancestor of eudicots after the divergence of monocotyledons and dicotyledons. While analysis of published whole-genome sequences of cucumber, melon, and watermelon showed traces of these ancient duplication events, there was not evidence of more recent whole-genome duplications in these species. Analysis of the syntenic relationships among watermelon, cucumber, melon, and grape has identified 3,543 orthologous relationships covering the watermelon, melon, and cucumber genomes. Comparison of melon and cucumber genomes synteny to detect shorter regions of rearrangements confirmed previously reported ancestral fusions of 5 melon chromosome pairs in cucumber, and several inter- and intra-chromosome rearrangements between the two species. Sequenced genomes of cucumber, melon, and watermelon revealed a comparable range of genes from 23k to 27k protein coding genes with an average of 4 to 6 exons per gene. Current progress in gene mapping technologies such as optical mapping, which produces maps of large individual DNA molecules, can improve cucurbit comparative genomics to detect large structural variations and DNA rearrangements across the species.