Eucalyptus genome sequenced
Oeiras, 16.06.2014
Two researchers from the lab of Plant Cell Biotecnology (IBET/ITQB) have been involved in the sequencing of the Eucalyptus genome. Jorge Paiva is currently Investigador Auxiliar at IICT and Victor Carocha is a PhD student at ITQB, also affiliated with CNRS, France. This genome is the result of a joint effort between 80 researchers from all over the world and is published in the last edition of Nature.
From Nature’s Press Release:
The genetic sequence of a species of Eucalyptus - the world's most widely planted hardwood tree - is published in Nature this week. The genome offers insights into the genes that dictate key features of these trees, such as a high woody biomass and the production of biologically and pharmaceutically important essential oils, and paints a picture of the events that have shaped the evolution of eucalypts.
Eucalypts are popular woody trees for plantation forestry as they adapt well to different environments, grow quickly and provide renewable sources of materials, such as pulp, paper and biofuels. The trees produce a wide range of essential oils, including the commercially valuable eucalyptus oil, that serve as a defence against a diverse array of pests as well as having medicinal and industrial uses.
Alexander Myburg and co-workers report the sequencing, assembly and analysis of the genome of Eucalyptus grandis. They find that the genome displays the greatest number of tandem duplications (two identical sequences, one following the other, in a chromosome segment) of any plant genome sequenced so far. These duplications seem to have prioritized specific genes for wood formation. E. grandis also has the highest diversity of genes for producing various essential oils, the authors note. They conclude that the genome sequence should provide a useful resource for future investigations of Eucalyptus evolution, which may improve our understanding of how these trees might respond to environmental changes.
Original Article
Nature (2014) doi:10.1038/nature13308
The genome of Eucalyptus grandis
Alexander A. Myburg, Dario Grattapaglia, Gerald A. Tuskan, Uffe Hellsten, Richard D. Hayes, Jane Grimwood, Jerry Jenkins, Erika Lindquist, Hope Tice, Diane Bauer, David M. Goodstein, Inna Dubchak, Alexandre Poliakov, Eshchar Mizrachi, Anand R. K. Kullan, Steven G. Hussey, Desre Pinard, Karen van der Merwe, Pooja Singh, Ida van Jaarsveld, Orzenil B. Silva-Junior, Roberto C. Togawa, Marilia R. Pappas, Danielle A. Faria, Carolina P. Sansaloni, Cesar D. Petroli, Xiaohan Yang, Priya Ranjan, Timothy J. Tschaplinski, Chu-Yu Ye, Ting Li, Lieven Sterck, Kevin Vanneste, Florent Murat, Marçal Soler, Hélène San Clemente, Naijib Saidi, Hua Cassan-Wang, Christophe Dunand, Charles A. Hefer, Erich Bornberg-Bauer, Anna R. Kersting, Kelly Vining, Vindhya Amarasinghe, Martin Ranik, Sushma Naithani, Justin Elser, Alexander E. Boyd, Aaron Liston, Joseph W. Spatafora, Palitha Dharmwardhana, Rajani Raja, Christopher Sullivan, Elisson Romanel, Marcio Alves-Ferreira, Carsten Külheim, William Foley, Victor Carocha, Jorge Paiva, David Kudrna, Sergio H., Brommonschenkel, Giancarlo Pasquali, Margaret Byrne, Philippe Rigault, Josquin Tibbits, Antanas Spokevicius, Rebecca C. Jones, Dorothy A. Steane, René E. Vaillancourt, Brad M. Potts, Fourie Joubert, Kerrie Barry, Georgios J. Pappas, Steven H. Strauss, Pankaj Jaiswal, Jacqueline Grima-Pettenati, Jérôme Salse, Yves Van de Peer, Daniel S. Rokhsar & Jeremy Schmutz
