Istituto Tecnologie Biomediche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Amendola 122/D, 70125 Bari, Italy. UMR INRA 1097, IRD-Montpellier SupAgro-Univ Montpellier Il, Diversite et Adaptation des plantes Cultivees, 2 Place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1, France. 1098, IRD-Montpellier SupAgro-CIRAD, Developpement et Amelioration des plantes, 2 Place pierre v 4060 Montpellier Cedex 1, France. Dipartimento Scientifico e Tecnologico, Universita degli Studi di verona Strada Le Grazie 15 -Ca Vignal, 37134 Verona, Italy Dipartimento di scienze, Tecnologie e Mercati della vite e del vino, Universita degli Studi di verona, via are c/o Universita degli Studi di siena, via Banchi di sotto 55, 53100 Siena, Italy A list of participants and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper. These authors contributed equally to this work. Corres pendence to d requests for mate rials should be addressed to P.w. m Top of Abstract The analysis of the first plant genomes provided unexpected evidence for genome duplication events in species that had previously been considered as true diploids on the basis of their geneticsl23, These poly ploidization events may have had important consequences in plant evolution in particular for species radiation and adaptation and for the modulation of functional capacities 45.6.B910. Here we eport a high-quality draft of the genome sequence of grapevine( vitis vinifera obtained from a highly homozygous genoty pe. the draft sequen ce of the grapevine genome is the fourth one produced so far for flowering plants, the second for a roody species and the first for a fruit crop(cultivated for both fruit and beverage) Grapevine was selected because of its important place in the cultural heritage of humanity beginning during the Neolithic period1 Several large expansions of gene families with roles in aromatic features are observed. the grapevine genome has not undergone recent genome duplication, thus enabling the discovery of ancestral traits and features of the genetic organization of flowering plants. This analysis reveals the contribution of three ancestral genomes to the grapevine haploid content. This ancestral arrangement is common to many dicotyledonous plants but is absent from the genome of rice, which is a monocotyledon Furthermore, we explain the chronology of previously described whole-genome duplication events in the evolution of flowering plants. Genoscope(CEA)and UMR 8030 CNRS-Genoscope-Universite dEvry, 2 rue Gaston Cremieux, BP5706, 91057 Evry, France11. Istituto Tecnologie Biomediche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Amendola 122/D, 70125 Bari, Italy. 12. UMR INRA 1097, IRD-Montpellier SupAgro-Univ. Montpellier II, Diversité et Adaptation des Plantes Cultivées, 2 Place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1, France. 13. UMR INRA 1098, IRD-Montpellier SupAgro-CIRAD, Développement et Amélioration des Plantes, 2 Place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1, France. 14. Dipartimento Scientifico e Tecnologico, Università degli Studi di Verona Strada Le Grazie 15 – Ca’ Vignal, 37134 Verona, Italy. 15. Dipartimento di Scienze, Tecnologie e Mercati della Vite e del Vino, Università degli Studi di Verona, via della Pieve, 70 37029 S. Floriano (VR), Italy. 16. VIGNA-CRA Initiative; Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Biologia Molecolare delle Piante, c/o Università degli Studi di Siena, via Banchi di Sotto 55, 53100 Siena, Italy. 17. A list of participants and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper. 18. These authors contributed equally to this work. Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to P.W. (Email: pwincker@genoscope.cns.fr). Top of page Abstract The analysis of the first plant genomes provided unexpected evidence for genome duplication events in species that had previously been considered as true diploids on the basis of their genetics1, 2, 3. These polyploidization events may have had important consequences in plant evolution, in particular for species radiation and adaptation and for the modulation of functional capacities4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Here we report a high-quality draft of the genome sequence of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) obtained from a highly homozygous genotype. The draft sequence of the grapevine genome is the fourth one produced so far for flowering plants, the second for a woody species and the first for a fruit crop (cultivated for both fruit and beverage). Grapevine was selected because of its important place in the cultural heritage of humanity beginning during the Neolithic period11. Several large expansions of gene families with roles in aromatic features are observed. The grapevine genome has not undergone recent genome duplication, thus enabling the discovery of ancestral traits and features of the genetic organization of flowering plants. This analysis reveals the contribution of three ancestral genomes to the grapevine haploid content. This ancestral arrangement is common to many dicotyledonous plants but is absent from the genome of rice, which is a monocotyledon. Furthermore, we explain the chronology of previously described whole-genome duplication events in the evolution of flowering plants. Genoscope (CEA) and UMR 8030 CNRS-Genoscope-Université d'Evry, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, BP5706, 91057 Evry, France