title: The draft genome of the C3panicoid grass species Dichanthelium oligosanthes.
abstract: Comparisons between C3and C4grasses often utilize C3species from the subfamilies Ehrhartoideae or Pooideae and C4species from the subfamily Panicoideae, two clades that diverged over 50 million years ago. The divergence of the C3panicoid grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes from the independent C4lineages represented by Setaria viridis and Sorghum bicolor occurred approximately 15 million years ago, which is significantly more recent than members of the Bambusoideae, Ehrhartoideae, and Pooideae subfamilies. D. oligosanthes is ideally placed within the panicoid clade for comparative studies of C3and C4grasses.
  
  
  
  We report the assembly of the nuclear and chloroplast genomes of D. oligosanthes, from high-throughput short read sequencing data and a comparative transcriptomics analysis of the developing leaf of D. oligosanthes, S. viridis, and S. bicolor. Physiological and anatomical characterizations verified that D. oligosanthes utilizes the C3pathway for carbon fixation and lacks Kranz anatomy. Expression profiles of transcription factors along developing leaves of D. oligosanthes and S. viridis were compared with previously published data from S. bicolor, Zea mays, and Oryza sativa to identify a small suite of transcription factors that likely acquired functions specifically related to C4photosynthesis.
  
  
  
  The phylogenetic location of D. oligosanthes makes it an ideal C3plant for comparative analysis of C4evolution in the panicoid grasses. This genome will not only provide a better C3species for comparisons with C4panicoid grasses, but also highlights the power of using high-throughput sequencing to address questions in evolutionary biology.
authors: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA. astuder@illinois.edu.|Present address: Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA. astuder@illinois.edu.
authors: Anthony J
authors: AJ
authors: Studer
authors: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA.|Present address: Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA.
authors: James C
authors: JC
authors: Schnable
authors: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA.
authors: Sarit
authors: S
authors: Weissmann
authors: School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA.
authors: Allison R
authors: AR
authors: Kolbe
authors: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA.
authors: Michael R
authors: MR
authors: McKain
authors: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA.|St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Shao
authors: School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA.
authors: Asaph B
authors: AB
authors: Cousins
authors: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA.
authors: Elizabeth A
authors: EA
authors: Kellogg
authors: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO, 63132, USA. tbrutnell@danforthcenter.org.
authors: Thomas P
authors: TP
authors: Brutnell
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D012275:Oryza; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D006109:Poaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D045868:Sorghum / Q000235:genetics; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics
keywords: Carbonic anhydrase; Dichanthelium oligosanthes; PACMAD; Panicoid grass; Photosynthesis