Dendrobium catenatum Genome sequencing and assembly

Orchidaceae is the second largest family among angiosperms and the largest branch of monocot. Dendrobium is the third largest genus of Orchidaceae and Dendrobium catenatum is a highly favored orchid, which exhibits prestigious characteristics for comparative genomic studies. In this paper, we present the whole draft genome sequences and analyses of D. catenatum, providing fundamental knowledge for further research in orchid evolution and pharmaceutical applications . We overcome the high heterozygosis by using a novel assembly software and assembled 1.01 Gb sequences that covered over 91% of the estimated total genome size. And then we predicted 28,910 protein coding genes with high confidence, and discovered two round whole genome duplications in D. catenatum lineage.