Recently we published a near telomere-to-telomere reference genome of Erysimum cheiri in Plant Physiology (Chen et al., 2026). We used the genome to investigate the origin of Erysimum karyotypes and to determine how its flower color variation is determined. We mapped the metabolic pathways for carotenoids and flavonoids, identifying the hub genes regulating their biosynthesis. This is the first chromosome-level reference genome for the important ornamental species, providing molecular insights into flower color variation.
Wallflower was chosen for the cover!
The paper was featured by News and Views.