Genetius

The study generated fully‑phased, chromosome‑scale genome assemblies for four Cannabis sativa genotypes using Oxford Nanopore long reads, PECAT assembly, and Hi‑C data scaffolded with YaHS. Despite low QV, the assemblies match HiFi references in contiguity and gene content, and comparative analysis with 77 other haplotypes provides phylogenetic insight and the first draft of the Cannabis pan‑NLRome.

The study examined how dual‑purpose hemp (Cannabis sativa) adjusts to different phosphate levels, showing that flower biomass is maintained unless phosphate is completely removed. Integrated physiological measurements and transcriptomic profiling revealed that phosphate is reallocated to flowers via glycolytic bypasses and organic phosphate release, while key regulatory genes followed expected patterns but did not suppress uptake at high phosphate, leading to nitrate depletion that limits growth.

The study used extensive RNA‑Seq data and comparative genomics across nine Cannabis sativa genomes to map molecular networks governing flower development, sex determination, and secondary metabolite production. It identified sex‑specific MADS‑box transcription factor orthogroups and revealed that cannabinoid biosynthesis genes show chemotype‑dependent expression in glandular trichomes, whereas upstream pathways are conserved. These insights provide targets for functional studies and breeding of medicinal and industrial traits.

The study genotyped 145 Iranian Cannabis sativa landrace accessions with 233K SNPs, uncovering three geographically structured subpopulations and 91 genomic regions associated with 40 phenological, morphological, and phytochemical traits, including pleiotropic loci influencing flowering time, plant architecture, biomass, and cannabinoid synthesis. High trait heritability and rapid linkage disequilibrium decay highlight the utility of these landraces for high‑resolution mapping and marker‑assisted breeding of cultivars with tailored cannabinoid profiles and agronomic traits.

The study combined weekly phenotypic measurements with high‑density genotyping and a machine‑learning pipeline to pinpoint features that discriminate early, medium, and late flowering in diverse Cannabis sativa landraces. Using mutual information, recursive feature elimination, random forest and SVM, 53 key features (22 SNPs and 31 traits) were identified, achieving 96.6% classification accuracy and highlighting loci such as CsFT3 and CsCFL1.

The study identified stable housekeeping genes for qRT-PCR normalization in Cannabis sativa and designed specific primers, while also constructing a genome-wide gene co‑expression network from public RNA‑Seq data that revealed 32 modules with tissue‑specific patterns linked to key physiological processes. These findings provide tools for molecular studies and uncover genetic circuits underlying cannabis development and stress responses.

The study investigates the genetic basis of sex determination in Cannabis sativa, a dioecious plant with some monoecious cultivars. QTL mapping identified a locus named Monoecy1 on the X chromosome that controls monoecy versus dioecy, and transcriptomic and genomic analyses revealed three tightly linked genes with sex‑specific expression patterns that likely drive male, female, and monoecious development.

A micropropagation protocol for the Charlies Dream cultivar of Cannabis sativa was optimized using axillary buds, comparing the effects of BAP and TDZ on shoot proliferation and foliar growth, and evaluating rooting hormones and environmental cues. Vitamin supplementation did not enhance growth, while specific concentrations of TDZ promoted early shoot multiplication and BAP later matched performance; direct soil rooting succeeded, especially with IBA pretreatment. The cannabinoid profile (CBD/Δ9‑THC ratio) remained stable between donor and micropropagated plants, confirming clonal propagation preserves chemotype.

The study applies trio‑binning of Oxford Nanopore reads to separately assemble the maternal and paternal haplotypes of a Cannabis F1 cross, achieving 18× coverage per haplotype with high contiguity and gene completeness. This cost‑effective approach reveals copy‑number and structural variations linked to disease resistance and secondary‑metabolite pathways, highlighting its value for cannabis breeding.

The study identified a conserved Y-linked gene, CsPDS5, and developed a single‑primer PCR assay that distinguishes male and female Cannabis sativa plants with 100% accuracy across 14 cultivars and multiple crosses, enabling early sex determination before flowering. The authors also present a pipeline for discovering X/Y polymorphic genes that can be applied to other dioecious species.