KAUST Quinoa genomes
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is an important crop for the future challenges of food and nutrient security in the context of climate change in developing countries. Deep characterization of the diversity of quinoa germplasm at the genetic level is needed to support the agronomic improvement and adaptation of quinoa as its worldwide cultivation expands. In this study, we report the construction of chromosome-scale genome assemblies of eight quinoa accessions covering the range of phenotypic and genetic diversity of both lowland and highland quinoas. The assemblies were produced from a combination of PacBio HiFi reads and Bionano Saphyr optical maps, with total assembly sizes averaging 1.28 Gb with a mean N50 of 71.1 Mb. Between 43,733 and 48,564 gene models were predicted for the eight new quinoa genomes, and on average, about 66% of each quinoa genome was classified as repetitive sequences. Alignment between the eight genome assemblies was performed and allowed the identification of structural rearrangements including inversions, translocations, and duplications. These eight novel quinoa genome assemblies provide a resource for association genetics, comparative genomics, and pan-genome analyses for the discovery of genetic components and variations underlying agriculturally important traits.