Lychee monoploid and haplotype-resolved genome sequence

Lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), which belongs to the flowering plant family Sapindaceae, is the second most important tropical fruit tree species worldwide and the most valuable fruit for which the edible portion is an aril. It is one of the most important woody fruit tree species that is cultivated in tropical regions for global commerce. The genome of cultivar 'Feizixiao' was assembled into 15 pseudo-chromosomes, totaling ~470 Mb. High heterozygosity (2.27%) resulted in two complete haplotypic assemblies. 13,517 allelic genes (42.4%) were differentially expressed in diverse tissues. Analyses of 72 re-sequenced lychee genomes revealed two independent domestication events.