Draft Sequence of Panax ginseng Allows Understanding of Its Genome Structure and Evolution

Panax ginseng, belongs to Araliceaece family in Apiales order, is well-known medicinal plant in worldwide, however it covers lack of genomic information due to its complex genome structure and four years of long life cycle. To unravel genome of P. ginseng, we have conducted whole genome sequencing using Illumina sequencing technology since 2011. At present, 3.0 Gbp of draft sequences were generated with 570 kbp of N50 value using cultivar Chunpoong and 59,352 genes were annotated via transcriptome data of 77 various tissues. We have further investigated on the evidence of whole genome duplication (WGD) in P. ginseng through annotated genes and assembled genome sequence. The two rounds of WGD were observed, of which recent WGD in 2.2 MYA resulted to high sequence similarity between paralog genes or scaffolds, whereas, only genic region was conserved between paralogs of 28 MYA. The comparative analysis with Daucus carota, which is the phylogenetically closest crop (Apiales order) among sequenced plants, revealed collinearity and evolutionary history between two species. Our study will provide further understanding P. ginseng genome, genetic studies of Panax species and evolution of plant belongs to Apiales. This research was supported by “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (Project No. PJ01100801)”, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.