#2 · Genomics

Chromosome-level assemblies link genome gigantism and gene loss to lineage evolution

The dominant thread across these three chromosome-level assemblies is the link between genome architecture and gene repertoire evolution. The 22.73 Gb Cathaya argyrophylla genome is attributed to repeat-driven gigantism and shows contracted defense gene sets in a comparison with its sister, Pinus. Four duckweed assemblies document convergent loss of ETI and NRT2 genes alongside retained flavonoid pathways, framed by the authors around aquatic adaptation and morphological reduction. The Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis assembly (86.66 Mb, 28 pseudo-chromosomes, 8,664 annotated genes) provides a compact red-algal reference with repeat profiling. What is new in this set is the pairing of chromosome-scale contiguity with repeat and gene-repertoire comparisons across a conifer, aquatic plants and a red alga, rather than single-genome description alone.