High-quality reference genome sequences of two coconut cultivars provide insights into evolution of monocot chromosomes and differentiation of fiber content and plant height

BACKGROUND: Coconut is an important tropical oil and fruit crop whose evolutionary position renders it a fantastic species for the investigation of the evolution of monocot chromosomes and the subsequent differentiation of ancient plants. RESULTS: Here, we report the assembly and annotation of reference-grade genomes of Cn. tall and Cn. dwarf, whose genome sizes are 2.40 Gb and 2.39 Gb, respectively. The comparative analysis reveals that the two coconut subspecies diverge about 2–8 Mya while the conserved Arecaceae-specific whole-genome duplication (ω WGD) occurs approximately 47–53 Mya. It additionally allows us to reconstruct the ancestral karyotypes of the ten ancient monocot chromosomes and the evolutionary trajectories of the 16 modern coconut chromosomes. Fiber synthesis genes in Cn. tall, related to lignin and cellulose synthesis, are found at a higher copy number and expression level than dwarf coconuts. Integrated multi-omics analysis reveals that the difference in coconut plant height is the result of altered gibberellin metabolism, with both the GA20ox copy number and a single-nucleotide change in the promoter together leading to the difference in plant height between Cn. tall and Cn. dwarf. CONCLUSION: We provide high-quality coconut genomes and reveal the genetic basis of trait differences between two coconuts through multi-omics analysis. We also reveal that the selection of plant height has been targeted for the same gene for millions of years, not only in natural selection of ancient plant as illustrated in coconut, but also for artificial selection in cultivated crops such as rice and maize. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13059-021-02522-9.