PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - KL Ashalatha
AU  - KP Arunkumar
AU  - Malali Gowda
TI  - Genome Sequencing Unravelled C3, C4 and CAM Photosynthetic Pathways in <em>Ficus religiosa</em>
AID  - 10.1101/2022.06.21.497063
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.06.21.497063
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/06/24/2022.06.21.497063.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/06/24/2022.06.21.497063.full
AB  - Peepal / Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa L.) is an important long-lived keystone ecological species. This plant has been widely used by communities in Indian subcontinent in traditional medicine, Ayurveda and spirituality. Our study aimed to generate molecular resources from wholegenome and transcriptome sequencing approaches. The whole genome of Peepal tree was sequenced using Illumina and MGISEQ-2000 sequencers. We assembled the draft genome (380-Mb) of Peepal tree and annotated 35,093 protein-coding genes; 53% of its genome consists of repetitive sequences. To understand the photosynthetic pathways in leaf tissues, we analysed photosynthetically distinct conditions: bright sunny days and dark nights. The RNA-seq analysis supported the expression of 26,691 genes. The gene expression analysis of the day and night period revealed the molecular switches between the Calvin-Benson (C3) cycle, C4-Dicarboxylic cycle and Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) cycle for carbon fixation in leaves of Peepal tree.ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY Genome and transcriptome analyses revealed switches the between the Calvin-Benson (C3) cycle, C4-Dicarboxylic cycle and Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) cycle for carbon fixation in the Peepal tree (Ficus religiosa) during the day and night periods.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS AKL performed the DNA and RNA isolation from leaf tissues, genome assembly and functional annotation, gene prediction, repeat prediction, orthologous gene clustering, Genome and Transcriptome pathway analysis, submitted WGS and RNA-seq data to NCBI, prepared the genomic and transcriptomic study tables and figures, wrote the manuscript; MG, AKL and AKP designed the genomic and transcriptomic experiments of Ficus religiosa; MG conceived and conceptualized the project; reviewed and edited the manuscript.