The imported durian is known as a kind of delicacy because of its unique taste and irritating smell, and its smell is often compared to onion and sulphur. The researchers used complementary single molecule DNA sequencing and chromosome scaffold techniques to assemble a high quality reference genome for the durian stem.

By comparing and analyzing other close relatives such as cocoa and cotton, researchers found a whole genome replication event similar to cotton in durian. The researchers also analyzed the gene expression during fruit ripening, and found that the activity of thioselxie gene in the fruit organs was higher than that in the non fruit organs. Durian contains more copies of genes that are involved in the synthesis of volatile sulfur compounds, indicating that the expansion is the basis for the smell of durian.

Different durian cultivars and strains have different taste and odour irritation. Durian genome sequence and analysis of sulfur metabolism genes help to understand these characteristics of durian, which is of great significance for durian industry.