Genome skims analysis of betel palms (Areca spp., Arecaceae) and development of a profiling method to assess their plastome diversity

Gene. 2021 Jul 15:145845. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2021.145845. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe betel nut (Areca catechu L., Arecaceae) is a monoecious cultivated palm tree that is widespread in tropical regions. It is mainly cultivated for producing areca nuts, from which seeds are extracted and chewed by local populations principally in the Indo-Pacific region. Seeds contain alkaloids which are central nervous system stimulants and are highly addictive. Wild relatives of the betel nut are distributed in South Asia and Australasia, with ca. 40-50 Areca species currently recognized. The geographic origin(s) of the betel nut and its subsequent diffusion and diversification remains poorly documented. Here, a genome skimming approach was applied to screen nucleotidic variation in the most abundant genomic regions. Low coverage sequencing data allowed us to assemble full plastomes, mitochondrial regions (either full mitogenomes or the full set of mitochondrial genes) and the nuclear ribosomal DNA cluster for nine representatives of the Areca genus collected in the field and herbarium collections (including a 182-years old specimen collected during the Dumont d'Urville's expedition). These three genomic compartments provided similar phylogenetic signals, and revealed very low genomic diversity in our sample of cultivated betel nut. We finally developed a genotyping method targeting 34 plastid DNA microsatellites. This plastome profiling approach is useful for tracing the spread of ma...

Source: Gene - July 18, 2021 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Pauline Raimondeau Sophie Manzi Nicolas Brucato Christopher Kinipi Matthew Leavesley Fran çois-Xavier Ricaut Guillaume Besnard Source Type: research