Building an octaploid genome and transcriptome of the medicinal plant Pogostemon cablin from Lamiales

The Lamiales order presents highly varied genome sizes and highly specialized life strategies. Patchouli, Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. from the Lamiales, has been widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia owing to high demand for its essential oil. Here, we generated ~681 Gb genomic sequences (~355X coverage) for the patchouli, and the assembled genome is ~1.91 Gb and with 110,850 predicted protein-coding genes. Analyses showed clear evidence of whole-genome octuplication (WGO) since the pan-eudicots γ triplication, which is a recent and exclusive polyploidization event and occurred at ~6.31 million years ago. Analyses of TPS gene family showed the expansion of type-a, which is responsible for the synthesis of sesquiterpenes and maybe highly specialization in patchouli. Our datasets provide valuable resources for plant genome evolution, and for identifying of genes related to secondary metabolites and their gene expression regulation.