Chromosome-level haplotype-resolved genome assembly of bread wheat’s wild relative Aegilops mutica

Grewal, Surbhi; Yang, Cai-yun; Krasheninnikova, Ksenia; Collins, Joanna; Wood, Jonathan M.D.; Ashling, Stephen; Scholefield, Duncan; Kaithakottil, Gemy G.; Swarbreck, David; Yao, Eric; Sen, Taner Z.; King, Ian P.; King, Julie

doi:10.1038/s41597-025-04737-y

Chromosome-level haplotype-resolved genome assembly of bread wheat’s wild relative Aegilops mutica

Grewal, Surbhi; Yang, Cai-yun; Krasheninnikova, Ksenia; Collins, Joanna; Wood, Jonathan M.D.; Ashling, Stephen; Scholefield, Duncan; Kaithakottil, Gemy G.; Swarbreck, David; Yao, Eric; Sen, Taner Z.; King, Ian P.; King, Julie

Authors

Dr SURBHI GREWAL SURBHI.GREWAL@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Cai-yun Yang

Ksenia Krasheninnikova

Joanna Collins

Jonathan M.D. Wood

Stephen Ashling

Duncan Scholefield

Gemy G. Kaithakottil

David Swarbreck

Eric Yao

Taner Z. Sen

Ian P. King

Professor JULIE KING julie.king@nottingham.ac.uk
PROFESSOR OF CEREAL GENETICS

Abstract

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a vital staple crop, with an urgent need for increased production to help feed the world’s growing population. Aegilops mutica (2n = 2x = 14; T genome) is a diploid wild relative of wheat carrying valuable agronomic traits resulting in its extensive exploitation for wheat improvement. This paper reports a chromosome-scale, haplotype-resolved genome assembly of Ae. mutica using HiFi reads and Omni-C data. The final lengths for the curated genomes were ~4.65 Gb (haplotype 1) and 4.56 Gb (haplotype 2), featuring a contig N50 of ~4.35 Mb and ~4.60 Mb, respectively. Genome annotation predicted 96,723 gene models and repeats. In summary, the genome assembly of Ae. mutica provides a valuable resource for the wheat breeding community, facilitating faster and more efficient pre-breeding of wheat to enhance food security.

Citation

Grewal, S., Yang, C.-Y., Krasheninnikova, K., Collins, J., Wood, J. M., Ashling, S., Scholefield, D., Kaithakottil, G. G., Swarbreck, D., Yao, E., Sen, T. Z., King, I. P., & King, J. (2025). Chromosome-level haplotype-resolved genome assembly of bread wheat’s wild relative Aegilops mutica. Scientific Data, 12(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04737-y

Journal Article Type	Data Article / Data Paper
Acceptance Date	Feb 28, 2025
Online Publication Date	Mar 13, 2025
Publication Date	Mar 13, 2025
Deposit Date	Feb 28, 2025
Publicly Available Date	Mar 17, 2025
Journal	Scientific Data
Electronic ISSN	2052-4463
Publisher	Nature Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	12
Issue	1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04737-y
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/45861465