Genome of extreme halophyte Puccinellia tenuiflora

Puccinellia tenuiflora, a forage grass, is considered a model halophyte given its strong tolerance for multiple stress conditions and its close genetic relationship with cereals. This halophyte has enormous values for improving our understanding of salinity tolerance mechanisms. The genetic information of P. tenuiflora also is a potential resource that can be used for improving the salinity tolerance of cereals.

Here, we sequenced and assembled the P. tenuiflora genome (2n = 14) through the combined strategy of Illumina, PacBio, and 10× genomic technique. We generated 43.2× PacBio long reads, 123.87× 10× genomic reads, and 312.6× Illumina reads. Finally, we assembled 2638 scaffolds with a total size of 1.107 Gb, contig N50 of 117 kb, and scaffold N50 of 950 kb. We predicted 39,725 protein-coding genes, and identified 692 tRNAs, 68 rRNAs, 702 snRNAs, 1376 microRNAs, and 691 Mb transposable elements.

We deposited the genome sequence in NCBI and the Genome Warehouse in National Genomics Data Center. Our work may improve current understanding of plant salinity tolerance, and provides extensive genetic resources necessary for improving the salinity and drought tolerance of cereals.