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Abstract

Bamboo shoots are globally recognized for their economic importance and are a delicious, valuable component of a healthy diet. Jiang et al. (pages 1087–1105) produced a highquality chromosomal genome assembly of the heterozygous allohexaploid bamboo Dendrocalamus brandisii. On the cover, the D. brandisii shoot is metaphorically depicted as a DNA double helix. This structure breaks through the soil, grows tall and strong, and supports the growing bamboo plant. This vivid imagery underscores the crucial role of high-quality genome sequences, along with comprehensive transcriptome and metabolome analyses in revealing the molecular reasons for the delicious taste of these bamboo shoots, which have a higher flavor, more sweet amino acids, lower lignin contents, and higher sugar contents compared with shoots from other bamboo species.