The cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) mitochondrial genome: intraspecific structural variation, repetitive architecture, and comparative evolutionary dynamics
Our study demonstrates that cucumber mitogenomes are not static but are highly dynamic mosaics shaped by repeat-mediated recombination, resulting in extensive structural variation even within a single species. These findings highlight the power of long-read assembly for studying complex organellar genomes and establish the paternally inherited mitogenome as a valuable resource for tracing paternal lineages and developing novel strategies for crop improvement.
Authors
- Minlong Jia
- Shengnan Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8689-2780)
- Liyun Nie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5288-0041)
- Junhu Kan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1881-5873)
- Xiaolin Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4606-3085)
- Luke R. Tembrock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8858-7720)
- Jie Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7870-0646)
- Shuo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2213-3624)
- Jiali Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8968-1565)
- Yanyan Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6294-9447)
- Xiping Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2108-7478)
- Zhìqiáng Wú (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1139-3260)
- Kewei You
Institutions
- Shanxi Agricultural University (CN)
- Murdoch University (AU)
- Shanxi University (CN)
- Agriculture and Forestry University (NP)
- North West Agriculture and Forestry University (CN)
- Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen (CN)
- Colorado State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Plant Biology
- Published
- 2025-10-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-025-07317-9
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.61
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
- Shenzhen Fundamental Research Program