Haplotype resolved DNA methylome of African cassava genome

Cytosine DNA methylation is involved in biological processes such as transposable element (TE) silencing, imprinting, and X chromosome inactivation. Plant methylation is mediated by MET1 (mammalian DNMT1), DRM2 (mammalian DNMT3), and two plant-specific DNA methyltransferases, CMT2 and CMT3 ([Law and Jacobsen, 2010][1]). De novo DNA methylation in plants is established by DRM2 via the plant specific RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway that depends on two DNA-dependent RNA polymerases, Pol IV and Pol V ([Gallego-Bartolome et al ., 2019][2]; [Law and Jacobsen, 2010][1]; [Stroud et al ., 2013][3]). The DNA methylome of cassava has been previously documented based on its haploid collapsed genome ([Wang et al ., 2015][4]). Since the cassava genome is highly heterozygous, DNA methylome analysis of the haplotype-collapsed genome misses many features of the methylome. With the development of long read sequencing and chromosomal conformation capture techniques, haplotype resolved genomes are available for highly heterozygous genomes ([Mansfeld et al ., 2021][5]; [Qi et al ., 2022][6]; [Zhou et al ., 2020][7]), which provides high-quality reference genomes facilitating studies of haplotype resolved DNA methylomes. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. [1]: #ref-4 [2]: #ref-2 [3]: #ref-7 [4]: #ref-8 [5]: #ref-5 [6]: #ref-6 [7]: #ref-9