February 26, 2025 – A landmark study titled “Super pangenome of Vitis empowers identification of downy mildew resistance genes for grapevine improvement” was published online in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics by the research teams led by Dr. Wenxiu Ye and Dr. Li Guo from the Weifang Modern Agriculture Shandong Laboratory and the Peking University Institute of Modern Agriculture.
This groundbreaking research represents a major leap forward in grape science, constructing the haplotype-resolved super pangenome of 72 grape accessions spanning the world’s three major Vitis populations (Eurasian, North American, and East Asian). The study deciphered the rich genetic diversity and hybridization history of grape species, while leveraging multi-omics data to identify key genetic variations and resistance genes against grape downy mildew (a devastating plant disease). These findings will accelerate precision molecular breeding and usher in a new era of grape germplasm innovation and utilization. Annoroad conducted third-generation sequencing library construction and sequencing.