10月18日，中華獼猴桃（Actinidia chinensis）「紅陽」的基因組測序研究文章在國際權威雜誌《自然—通訊》（Nature Communications）在線發表。該項研究對廣泛栽培的中華獼猴桃品種「紅陽」的基因組進行分析，發現獼猴桃進化過程中3次基因組倍增歷史事件，揭示獼猴桃富含維生素C、類胡蘿蔔素、花青素等營養成分的基因組學機制，為獼猴桃品質改良和遺傳育種奠定了重要基礎。
中華獼猴桃基因組計劃由獼猴桃基因組國際合作組織（International Kiwifruit Genome Consortium, IKGC）歷時3年完成。該國際組織由合肥工業大學劉永勝教授和美國康乃爾大學湯姆遜植物研究所科學家費章君博士共同領導，參與單位還包括四川大學、四川省自然資源研究院、湖北省農科院、中國科學院廣西植物研究所、香港中文大學、復旦大學、西南大學、美國愛達荷大學、美國農業部等國內外高校和科研機構。
獼猴桃，又稱「奇異果」，被譽為「水果之王」和「維C之王」。它含有亮氨酸、苯丙氨酸、異亮氨酸、酪氨酸、丙氨酸等10多種胺基酸，以及豐富的礦物質，包括豐富的鈣、磷、鐵，還含有胡蘿蔔素和多種維生素，對保持人體健康具有重要的作用。獼猴桃起源於中國，大約100年前在紐西蘭開始馴化和栽培。目前已在中國、紐西蘭、義大利、智利等10多個國家大規模種植，成為風靡全球的營養最為豐富的高端水果之一。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
NAT COMMUN doi:10.1038/ncomms3640
Draft genome of the kiwifruit Actinidia chinensis
Shengxiong Huang,Jian Ding,Dejing Deng,Wei Tang,Honghe Sun, Dongyuan Liu,Lei Zhang,Xiangli Niu, Xia Zhang,Meng Meng,Jinde Yu,Jia Liu,Yi Han,Wei Shi, Danfeng Zhang,Shuqing Cao,Zhaojun Wei, Yongliang Cui, Yanhua Xia,Huaping Zeng
The kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) is an economically and nutritionally important fruit crop with remarkably high vitamin C content. Here we report the draft genome sequence of a heterozygous kiwifruit, assembled from ~140-fold next-generation sequencing data. The assembled genome has a total length of 616.1?Mb and contains 39,040 genes. Comparative genomic analysis reveals that the kiwifruit has undergone an ancient hexaploidization event (γ) shared by core eudicots and two more recent whole-genome duplication events. Both recent duplication events occurred after the divergence of kiwifruit from tomato and potato and have contributed to the neofunctionalization of genes involved in regulating important kiwifruit characteristics, such as fruit vitamin C, flavonoid and carotenoid metabolism. As the first sequenced species in the Ericales, the kiwifruit genome sequence provides a valuable resource not only for biological discovery and crop improvement but also for evolutionary and comparative genomics analysis, particularly in the asterid lineage.