Empowering genetics research in Chenopodium quinoa with single molecule genomics

Chenopodium quinoa (quinoa), a crop native to the Andean region of South America, has recently gained international attention due to its high protein content and balanced amino acid composition of its seeds. Besides its high nutritional values, quinoa has also been found to tolerate extreme abiotic stresses, including salinity, drought, heat and frost. These desirable traits coupled with the wealth of naturally occuring genetic diversity make quinoa an interesting and valuable plant species to study. Unfortunately, the creation and study of big and complex plant genomes (like the allotetraploid quinoa) have been challenging with the whole shotgun sequencing approach. This is due to the limitations of short reads to span long and frequent repetitive regions within plant genomes. In addition, homoeologous regions of the multiple sub-genomes within polypoloid plant species are inherently challenging for traditional shotgun de novo genome assembly. Recent advances in Pacific Biosciences long-read technology have allowed the sequencing of quinoa in an effort to create a gold-standard reference assembly for the quinoa community. The draft 1.2 Gb genome assembly will provide insights into understanding genomic features underlying quinoa’s abiotic stress tolerance and eventually serve as valuable tools to empower quinoa genetice research in the future.