GENOME NOTE An updated version of the Madagascar periwinkle genome [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review] Clément Cuello 1* , Emily Amor Stander 1* , Hans J. Jansen 2 , Thomas Dugé De Bernonville 1,3 , Audrey Oudin 1 , Caroline Birer Williams 1 , Arnaud Lanoue 1 , Nathalie Giglioli Guivarc'h 1 , Nicolas Papon 4 , Ron P. Dirks 2 , Michael Krogh Jensen 5 , Sarah Ellen O'Connor 6 , Sébastien Besseau 1 , Vincent Courdavault 1 1 EA2106 Biomolécules et Biotechnologies Végétales, Université de Tours, Tours, 37200, France 2 Future Genomics Technologies, Leiden, 2333BE, The Netherlands 3 Present address: Centre de Recherche, Limagrain, Chappes, 07745, France 4 IRF, SFR ICAT, Univ Angers, Univ Brest, Angers, 49000, France 5 Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark 6 Department of Natural Product Biosynthesis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, 07745, Germany * Equal contributors First published: 21 Dec 2022, 11:1541 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.129212.1 Latest published: 21 Dec 2022, 11:1541 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.129212.1 v1 Abstract The Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus, belongs to the Apocynaceae family. This medicinal plant, endemic to Madagascar, produces many important drugs including the monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIA) vincristine and vinblastine used to treat cancer worldwide. Here, we provide a new version of the C. roseus genome sequence obtained through the combination of Oxford Nanopore Technologies long-reads and Illumina short-reads. This more contiguous assembly consists of 173 scaffolds with a total length of 581.128 Mb and an N50 of 12.241 Mb. Using publicly available RNAseq data, 21,061 protein coding genes were predicted and functionally annotated. A total of 42.87% of the genome was annotated as transposable elements, most of them being long-terminal repeats. Together with the increasing access to MIA-producing plant genomes, this updated version should ease evolutionary studies leading to a better understanding of MIA biosynthetic pathway evolution. Keywords Monoterpene indole alkaloids, Catharanthus roseus, Apocynaceae Open Peer Review Approval Status AWAITING PEER REVIEW Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. Page 1 of 7 F1000Research 2022, 11:1541 Last updated: 21 DEC 2022