What makes a banana false? How the genome of Ethiopian orphan staple Ensete ventricosum differs from the banana A and B sub-genomes

Muzemil, S.; Paul, P.; Baxter, L.; Dominguez-Ferreras, A.; Sahu, S. K.; Van Deynze, A.; Mai, G.; Yemataw, Z.; Tesfaye, K.; Ntoukakis, V.; Studholme, D. J.; Grant, M.

doi:10.64898/2026.02.21.706659

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.02.21.706659

What makes a banana false? How the genome of Ethiopian orphan staple Ensete ventricosum differs from the banana A and B sub-genomes

Muzemil, S.·Paul, P.·Baxter, L.·Dominguez-Ferreras, A.·Sahu, S. K.·Van Deynze, A.·Mai, G.·Yemataw, Z.·Tesfaye, K.·Ntoukakis, V.·Studholme, D. J.·Grant, M.

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Abstract

BackgroundEnsete ventricosum, also known as the "tree against hunger" plays a key role in Ethiopian food security and farming systems, feeding more than 20 million people. Since domestication via clonal selection in the south-west Ethiopian highlands, todays diverse enset landraces contribute multiple benefits including food, fibre by-product, animal bedding and cattle fodder to farmers and local communities. Improved genomic resources for this highly drought-tolerant plant are essential to supplement the conventional clonal selection-based breeding programme and pave the way towards targeted breeding. ResultsWe sequenced the genome of enset landrace Mazia, which is partially resistant/tolerant to Xanthomonas wilt and predicted 38,940 protein-coding genes. The Mazia assembly (540.14 Mb) is more complete than the previously published genome assembly of landrace Bedadeti (451.28 Mb) and displayed 1.41% heterozygosity and 64.64% repetitive DNA content. Comparative analyses with the Bedadeti assembly and chromosome-level genome sequences of the two main banana progenitors (Musa acuminata, AA genome; Musa balbisiana, BB genome) unexpectedly revealed [~]25% of the Mazia genome is unique to enset. Gene Ontology (GO) and sequence similarity search analysis of enset-specific protein-coding genes identified distinct functional signatures that underpin the lifestyle, adaptation, and corm productive quality of enset, including functions related to DNA integration, carbohydrate metabolism, disease resistance and transcriptional regulation. In contrast, Musa-specific genes showed enrichment for defence response, protein phosphorylation and fruit development pathways. Focusing on the classical nucleotide binding site leucine rich repeat (NLR) disease resistance genes, we identified and characterised NLRs in enset and Musa species genomes, revealing a considerable expansion in the Musa acuminata genome. We also identified unique genes in enset and banana genomes whose functional and evolutionary roles are yet to be determined. ConclusionsHere, we report a de novo genome assembly for the enset (Ensete ventricosum) landrace Mazia and provide a high-quality annotation of both Mazia and the previously published assembly of the landrace Bedadeti. Collectively, these genomic resources provide a valuable foundation for comparative genomics within the Musaceae family and open new opportunities for the development of marker-assisted breeding strategies to accelerate the improvement of agronomically important traits in enset.

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Muzemil, S., Paul, P., Baxter, L., Dominguez-Ferreras, A., Sahu, S. K., Van Deynze, A., Mai, G., Yemataw, Z., Tesfaye, K., Ntoukakis, V., Studholme, D. J., Grant, M.. 2026-02-23. What makes a banana false? How the genome of Ethiopian orphan staple Ensete ventricosum differs from the banana A and B sub-genomes. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.02.21.706659

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