Morning glory has been loved by the Japanese for a long time, and breeding has progressed for ornamental purposes, making it a part of Japan's unique culture that is unique in the world.The history of academic research in Japan has reached 100 years this year, and it is said that vigorous genetic research is being carried out due to the existence of many mutants.In 2010, domestic researchers gathered to start joint research on whole-genome sequencing to promote its utilization in research.

　The selected morning glory is an experimental system called the Tokyo ancient standard type, and the state-of-the-art DNA sequence analyzer (third generation sequencer) of the National Institute of Genetics is used for decoding.We read 98 million bases, which corresponds to 7% of the entire genome sequence, and connected them as 3,500 DNA sequences by computer, and confirmed about 3,400 genes.In addition, 43,000 DNA sequences (transposons), which are also called moving genes and can move (transfer) to positions on the genome, were found, and it is said that this abundance gave rise to various varieties.In addition, the causative gene of the mutation called "vortex" was newly discovered.Comparative analysis with other organisms also revealed that the ancestors of morning glory and tomato diverged 340 years ago, resulting in whole-genome duplication in each line, doubling the entire genome.

　The discovery of transposons and vortex genes in the genome sequence in just a few months is said to be an innovation in the 100th year of morning glory research.In the future, it can be applied not only to morning glory but also to research on useful crops and parasitic plants closely related to sweet potato, eggplant, potato, etc., and it is expected that morning glory will be used by many researchers all over the world as a model plant. NS.