GinkgoDB: an ecological genome database for the living fossil, Ginkgo biloba.

Although an increasing number of species-specific databases have been constructed to facilitate the global research community, comprehensive databases remain rare with multidimensional research resources rather than genomic data solely, in particular for non-model species. Here we introduced GinkgoDB, the ecological genome database for the world-renowned living fossil, Ginkgo biloba L., a tree species with extreme longevity, exceptional resistance, global landscape application and dioecy. The present version of GinkgoDB consists of four modules of genome, occurrence, quadrat and gallery. The genome module includes two versions of chromosome-level assembled genomes with high-quality annotation, expression profiles of each sex for different tissues and variants from 545 ginkgo genomes. A suite of tools were also deployed online for search, blast and further analyses. The occurrence module contains distribution information of over one million records across the world with an emphasis on 8926 individual-level tagged trees with phenotypic trait data in eastern Asia. The quadrat module provides monitoring data of both species and habitats from 27 plots of natural ginkgo forests and periodic data of functional traits measured for the entire plant communities. The gallery module collects field morphological photos and scanned phenotypic images of various ginkgo materials. GinkgoDB showcases a comprehensive and persistently growing database for a single non-model species. Database URL: https://ginkgo.zju.edu.cn/.

Spatial Difference of Interactive Effect Between Temperature and Daylength on Ginkgo Budburst.

Climate warming-induced shifts in spring phenology have substantially affected the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycles. Spring phenology is primarily triggered by spring temperature and is also affected by daylength and winter chilling, yet the relative importance of these cues across spatial gradients remains poorly understood. Here, we conducted a manipulative experiment with two daylength and three temperature treatments to investigate spatial differences in the response of ginkgo budburst to temperature and daylength, using twigs collected at three sites across a spatial gradient: a control site at a low latitude and low elevation on Tianmu Mountain (TMlow), a low latitude and high elevation site on Tianmu Mountain (TMhigh), and a high latitude site on Jiufeng mountain (JF). The mechanisms were also tested using in situ phenological observations of ginkgo along latitudes in China. We found that, compared to TMlow individuals, budburst dates occurred 12.6 (JF) and 7.7 (TMhigh) days earlier in high-latitude and high-elevation individuals when exposed to the same temperature and daylength treatments. Importantly, daylength only affected budburst at low latitudes, with long days (16 h) advancing budburst in low-latitude individuals by, on average, 8.1 days relative to short-day (8 h) conditions. This advance was most pronounced in low-elevation/latitude individuals (TMlow = 9.6 days; TMhigh = 6.7 days; JF = 1.6 days). In addition, we found that the temperature sensitivity of budburst decreased from 3.4 to 2.4 days °C-1 along latitude and from 3.4 to 2.5 days °C-1 along elevation, respectively. The field phenological observations verified the experimental results. Our findings provide empirical evidence of spatial differences in the relative effects of spring temperature and daylength on ginkgo budburst, which improved our understanding of spatial difference in phenological changes and the responses of terrestrial ecosystem to climate change.