A new Cannabis genome assembly associates elevated cannabidiol (CBD) with hemp introgressed into marijuana.

ABSTRACT: Demand for cannabidiol (CBD), the predominant cannabinoid in hemp (Cannabis sativa), has favored cultivars producing unprecedented quantities of CBD. We investigated the ancestry of a new cultivar and cannabinoid synthase genes in relation to cannabinoid inheritance. A nanopore-based assembly anchored to a high-resolution linkage map provided a chromosome-resolved genome for CBDRx, a potent CBD-type cultivar. We measured cannabinoid synthase expression by cDNA sequencing and conducted a population genetic analysis of diverse Cannabis accessions. Quantitative trait locus mapping of cannabinoids in a hemp × marijuana segregating population was also performed. Cannabinoid synthase paralogs are arranged in tandem arrays embedded in long terminal repeat retrotransposons on chromosome 7. Althoug

SUBMITTER: Grassa CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8248131 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature