Characterization of stilbene synthase genes by comparative genome sequencing of Vitis flexuosa with high contents of stilbene compounds to Vitis vinifera genome

Grapevine is an economically important fruit crop with high secondary metabolite content. The stilbene contents in ripe berries were significantly higher in Vitis flexuosa than in 'Pinot Noir' (V. vinifera) and 'Campbell Early' (V. labruscana). A phylogenetic tree analysis of STS family showed high similarity between V. flexuosa and V. vinifera. The draft genome sequence of a heterozygous V. flexuosa, were assembled from similar to 172-fold sequencing data. The assembled genome has a total length of 511 Mb and contains 18,515 orthologous genes. Moreover, there was high structural variation in V. flexuosa compared to cultivated grapevines, which are contributed to genetic variation involved in expression of characteristics such as disease resistance and high content of stilbene compound in V. flexuosa. The V. flexuosa genome sequence will facilitate exploration of the biological discovery and breeding-related applications of this useful resource plant, Korea native wild grapevine V. flexuosa.