Haplotype-resolved genome of diploid ginger (Zingiber officinale) and its unique gingerol biosynthetic pathway

Ginger(Zingiber officinale),the type species of Zingiberaceae,is one of the most widespread medicinal plants and spices.Here,we report a high-quality,chromosome-scale reference genome of ginger‘Zhugen’,a traditionally cultivated ginger in Southwest China used as a fresh vegetable,assembled from PacBio long reads,Illumina short reads,and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture(Hi-C)reads.The ginger genome was phased into two haplotypes,haplotype 1(1.53 Gb with a contig N50 of 4.68 M)and haplotype 0(1.51 Gb with a contig N50 of 5.28 M).Homologous ginger chromosomes maintained excellent gene pair collinearity.In 17,226 pairs of allelic genes,11.9%exhibited differential expression between alleles.Based on the results of ginger genome sequencing,transcriptome analysis,and metabolomic analysis,we proposed a backbone biosynthetic pathway of gingerol analogs,which consists of 12 enzymatic gene families,PAL,C4H,4CL,CST,C3’H,C3OMT,CCOMT,CSE,PKS,AOR,DHN,and DHT.These analyses also identified the likely transcription factor networks that regulate the synthesis of gingerol analogs.Overall,this study serves as an excellent resource for further research on ginger biology and breeding,lays a foundation for a better understanding of ginger evolution,and presents an intact biosynthetic pathway for species-specific gingerol biosynthesis.

Correction:Haplotype-resolved genome of diploid ginger (Zingiber officinale)and its unique gingerol biosynthetic pathway

After online publication of the article 1,the authors noticed the affiliation“College of Landscape Architecture and Life Science/Institute of Special Plants,Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences,Yongchuan,Chongqing,China”for author Yiqing Liu was missing.

Effect of Intercropping Ginger and Sweet Maize on Growth,Yield and Benefits

Ginger is an important cash crop in Shandong Province and it usually takes the sole cropping in the production.In order to explore new ginger cultivation patterns and improve planting benefits,sweet maize(Jingengtian 1)was intercropped with ginger(Laiwu ginger).The plug seedling was performed for sweet maize on April 18.Ginger was planted with plastic film mulching on April 20,and double-row sweet maize seedlings were transplanted on the ridges of interlaced ginger fields on May 2.The sweet maize was harvested from July 18 to 25,and the tillering rate of sweet maize reached 100%.The number of tillers in intercropping was more than that of sole cropping,and the highest average tiller reached 5.32 per plant;when sweet maize was intercropped,the number of ears decreased by 17.35%and the ear weight decreased by 8.07%.Ginger was harvested on October 20,the number of branches of intercropping ginger decreased by 5.12%to 6.47%,and the rhizomes weight per plant decreased by 5.64%to 16.43%.The economic benefit of ginger intercropping sweet maize was higher than that of sole ginger cropping.The intercropping model increased the efficiency by 6.28%and 2.87%respectively in the two bases,and increased the net income by 12000 and 5000 yuan/ha,respectively.