Structural and functional partitioning of bread wheat chromosome 3B

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1249721
• Publication Date: 2014-07-17T18:23:31Z
• Authors: Frédéric Choulet; Adriana Alberti; Sébastien Theil; Natasha Glover; Valérie Barbe; Josquin Daron; Lise Pingault; Pierre Sourdille; Arnaud Couloux; Etienne Paux; Philippe Leroy; Sophie Mangenot; Nicolas Guilhot; Jacques Le Gouis; Francois Balfourier; Michael Alaux; Véronique Jamilloux; Julie Poulain; Céline Durand; Arnaud Bellec; Christine Gaspin; Jan Safar; Jaroslav Dolezel; Jane Rogers; Klaas Vandepoele; Jean-Marc Aury; Klaus Mayer; Hélène Berges; Hadi Quesneville; Patrick Wincker; Catherine Feuillet
• Keywords: Recombination, Genetic; 0301 basic medicine; 2. Zero hunger; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Bread; Chromosomes, Plant; Polyploidy; Meiosis; 03 medical and health sciences; Chromosome Segregation; 616; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; DNA Transposable Elements; [SDV.BV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology; [INFO]Computer Science [cs]; [MATH]Mathematics [math]; Pseudogenes; Triticum; Plant Proteins

We produced a reference sequence of the 1-gigabase chromosome 3B of hexaploid bread wheat. By sequencing 8452 bacterial artificial chromosomes in pools, we assembled a sequence of 774 megabases carrying 5326 protein-coding genes, 1938 pseudogenes, and 85% of transposable elements. The distribution of structural and functional features along the chromosome revealed partitioning correlated with meiotic recombination. Comparative analyses indicated high wheat-specific inter- and intrachromosomal gene duplication activities that are potential sources of variability for adaption. In addition to providing a better understanding of the organization, function, and evolution of a large and polyploid genome, the availability of a high-quality sequence anchored to genetic maps will accelerate the identification of genes underlying important agronomic traits.