Cardamine hirsuta strain:OX Genome sequencing and assembly

A key goal in biology is to understand the genetic basis for phenotypic diversity. High throughput sequencing increasingly enables the detection of genetic differences between individuals but identifying causal relationships between genotypic and phenotypic variation remains a key focus for evolutionary biology, human genetics and plant breeding. Here we report the reference genome sequence of Cardamine hirsuta, a close relative of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana with a range of experimental tools available to investigate gene function and phenotypic diversification. We used comparative transcriptomics to identify genome-wide patterns underlying trait diversity between the two species. Our findings highlight the prevalent role of transcription factors and tandem gene duplications in morphological evolution. We provide evidence for tandem gene duplication contributing to diversification of biochemical properties of the seed coat and identify a specific role for the stem cell regulators PLETHORA5/7 in shaping leaf diversity. Our work highlights the value of this comparative approach in genetically tractable species to understand the genetic basis for evolutionary change