title: The Norway spruce genome sequence and conifer genome evolution.
abstract: Conifers have dominated forests for more than 200 million years and are of huge ecological and economic importance. Here we present the draft assembly of the 20-gigabase genome of Norway spruce (Picea abies), the first available for any gymnosperm. The number of well-supported genes (28,354) is similar to the >100 times smaller genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, and there is no evidence of a recent whole-genome duplication in the gymnosperm lineage. Instead, the large genome size seems to result from the slow and steady accumulation of a diverse set of long-terminal repeat transposable elements, possibly owing to the lack of an efficient elimination mechanism. Comparative sequencing of Pinus sylvestris, Abies sibirica, Juniperus communis, Taxus baccata and Gnetum gnemon reveals that the transposable element diversity is shared among extant conifers. Expression of 24-nucleotide small RNAs, previously implicated in transposable element silencing, is tissue-specific and much lower than in other plants. We further identify numerous long (>10,000 base pairs) introns, gene-like fragments, uncharacterized long non-coding RNAs and short RNAs. This opens up new genomic avenues for conifer forestry and breeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, Box 1031, 171 21 Solna, Sweden.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nystedt
authors.forename: Nathaniel R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Street
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wetterbom
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zuccolo
authors.forename: Yao-Cheng
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Douglas G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Scofield
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vezzi
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Delhomme
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giacomello
authors.forename: Andrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alexeyenko
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vicedomini
authors.forename: Kristoffer
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sahlin
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.forename: Malin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elfstrand
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gramzow
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Holmberg
authors.forename: Jimmie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hällman
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Keech
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Klasson
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koriabine
authors.forename: Melis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kucukoglu
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Käller
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luthman
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lysholm
authors.forename: Totte
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niittylä
authors.forename: Ake
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Nemanja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rilakovic
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ritland
authors.forename: Josep A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rosselló
authors.forename: Juliana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sena
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Talavera-López
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Theißen
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tuominen
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanneste
authors.forename: Zhi-Qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zerbe
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arvestad
authors.forename: Rishikesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhalerao
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bohlmann
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bousquet
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garcia Gil
authors.forename: Torgeir R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hvidsten
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: MacKay
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morgante
authors.forename: Kermit
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ritland
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sundberg
authors.forename: Stacey Lee
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Van de Peer
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Ove
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: Pär K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Ingvarsson
authors.forename: Joakim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lundeberg
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jansson
mesh_terms: D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020868:Gene Silencing; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D020407:Internet; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D028222:Picea / Q000235:genetics*; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D022661:RNA, Untranslated