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Abstract Diploid wild oat Avena longiglumis has nutritional and adaptive traits which are valuable for common oat (A. sativa) breeding. The combination of Illumina, Nanopore and Hi-C data allowed us to assemble a high-quality chromosome-level genome of A. longiglumis (ALO), evidenced by contig N50 of 12.68 Mb with 99% BUSCO completeness for the assembly size of 3,960.97 Mb. A total of 40,845 protein-coding genes were annotated. The assembled genome was composed of 87.04% repetitive DNA sequences. Dotplots of the genome assembly (PI657387) with two published ALO genomes were compared to indicate the conservation of gene order and equal expansion of all syntenic blocks among three genome assemblies. Two recent whole-genome duplication events were characterized in genomes of diploid Avena species. These findings provide new knowledge for the genomic features of A. longiglumis, give information about the species diversity, and will accelerate the functional genomics and breeding studies in oat and related cereal crops.

Abstract Background Avena longiglumis Durieu (2n = 2x = 14) is a wild relative of cultivated oat (Avena sativa, 2n = 6x = 42) with good agronomic and nutritional traits. The plant mitochondrial genome has a complex organization and carries genetic traits of value in exploiting genetic resources, not least male sterility alleles used to generate F1 hybrid seeds. Therefore, we aim to complement the chromosomal-level nuclear and chloroplast genome assemblies of A. longiglumis with the complete assembly of the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) based on Illumina and ONT long reads, comparing its structure with Poaceae species. Results The complete mitochondrial genome of A. longiglumis can be represented by one master circular genome being 548,445 bp long with a GC content of 44.05%. It can be represented by linear or circular DNA molecules (isoforms or contigs), with multiple alternative configurations mediated by long (4,100–31,235 bp) and medium (144–792 bp) size repeats. Thirty-five unique protein-coding genes, three unique rRNA genes, and 11 unique tRNA genes are identified. The mitogenome is rich in duplications (up to 233 kb long) and multiple tandem or simple sequence repeats, together accounting for more than 42.5% of the total length. We identify homologous sequences between the mitochondrial, plastid and nuclear genomes, including the exchange of eight plastid-derived tRNA genes, and nuclear-derived retroelement fragments. At least 85% of the mitogenome is duplicated in the A. longiglumis nuclear genome. We identify 269 RNA editing sites in mitochondrial protein-coding genes including stop codons truncating ccmFC transcripts. Conclusions Comparative analysis with Poaceae species reveals the dynamic and ongoing evolutionary changes in mitochondrial genome structure and gene content. The complete mitochondrial genome of A. longiglumis completes the last link of the oat reference genome and lays the foundation for oat breeding and exploiting the biodiversity in the genus.

Abstract Background Oat (Avena sativa L.) is a recognized health-food, and the contributions of its different candidate A-genome progenitor species remain inconclusive. Here, we report chloroplast genome sequences of eleven Avena species, to examine the plastome evolutionary dynamics and analyze phylogenetic relationships between oat and its congeneric wild related species. Results The chloroplast genomes of eleven Avena species (size range of 135,889–135,998 bp) share quadripartite structure, comprising of a large single copy (LSC; 80,014–80,132 bp), a small single copy (SSC; 12,575–12,679 bp) and a pair of inverted repeats (IRs; 21,603–21,614 bp). The plastomes contain 131 genes including 84 protein-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNAs and 39 transfer RNAs. The nucleotide sequence diversities (Pi values) range from 0.0036 (rps19) to 0.0093 (rpl32) for ten most polymorphic genes and from 0.0084 (psbH-petB) to 0.0240 (petG-trnW-CCA) for ten most polymorphic intergenic regions. Gene selective pressure analysis shows that all protein-coding genes have been under purifying selection. The adjacent position relationships between tandem repeats, insertions/deletions and single nucleotide polymorphisms support the evolutionary importance of tandem repeats in causing plastome mutations in Avena. Phylogenomic analyses, based on the complete plastome sequences and the LSC intermolecular recombination sequences, support the monophyly of Avena with two clades in the genus. Conclusions Diversification of Avena plastomes is explained by the presence of highly diverse genes and intergenic regions, LSC intermolecular recombination, and the co-occurrence of tandem repeat and indels or single nucleotide polymorphisms. The study demonstrates that the A-genome diploid-polyploid lineage maintains two subclades derived from different maternal ancestors, with A. longiglumis as the first diverging species in clade I. These genome resources will be helpful in elucidating the chloroplast genome structure, understanding the evolutionary dynamics at genus Avena and family Poaceae levels, and are potentially useful to exploit plastome variation in making hybrids for plant breeding.

Abstract Background Repetitive DNA motifs – not coding genetic information and repeated millions to hundreds of times – make up the majority of many genomes. Here, we identify the nature, abundance and organization of all the repetitive DNA families in oats (Avena sativa, 2n = 6x = 42, AACCDD), a recognized health-food, and its wild relatives. Results Whole-genome sequencing followed by k-mer and RepeatExplorer graph-based clustering analyses enabled assessment of repetitive DNA composition in common oat and its wild relatives’ genomes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)-based karyotypes are developed to understand chromosome and repetitive sequence evolution of common oat. We show that some 200 repeated DNA motifs make up 70% of the Avena genome, with less than 20 families making up 20% of the total. Retroelements represent the major component, with Ty3/Gypsy elements representing more than 40% of all the DNA, nearly three times more abundant than Ty1/Copia elements. DNA transposons are about 5% of the total, while tandemly repeated, satellite DNA sequences fit into 55 families and represent about 2% of the genome. The Avena species are monophyletic, but both bioinformatic comparisons of repeats in the different genomes, and in situ hybridization to metaphase chromosomes from the hexaploid species, shows that some repeat families are specific to individual genomes, or the A and D genomes together. Notably, there are terminal regions of many chromosomes showing different repeat families from the rest of the chromosome, suggesting presence of translocations between the genomes. Conclusions The relatively small number of repeat families shows there are evolutionary constraints on their nature and amplification, with mechanisms leading to homogenization, while repeat characterization is useful in providing genome markers and to assist with future assemblies of this large genome (c. 4100 Mb in the diploid). The frequency of inter-genomic translocations suggests optimum strategies to exploit genetic variation from diploid oats for improvement of the hexaploid may differ from those used widely in bread wheat.