Avena longiglumis: a 3,961 Mb diploid oat genome sequence assembly

The study presents the chromosome-level genome assembly of Avena longiglumis, a diploid oat species. The assembly is high-quality, with 99% completeness and 40,845 annotated protein-coding genes. It provides insights into genome evolution, expansion, and structural variations, offering valuable information for oat breeding and functional genomics. Additionally, mitochondrial genome and comparative studies have been conducted.

Towards a banana pangenome: a new chromosome assembly in Musaceae

Our fascinating research on the diversity of genomes within the banana family in The genome assembly of Musa beccarii & evolution of banana family genomes: extensive chromosomal rearrangements & genome expansion by Zheng-Feng Wang, Mathieu Rouard @m_rouard, Gaetan Droc @GaetanDroc, Pat (J S) Heslop-Harrison @Pathh1, Xue-Jun Ge. GigaScience, Volume 12, 2023, giad005, https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giad005 @Gigascience 🍌🧬#GenomeAssembly…

Chromosomal landscapes of Endogenous Retroviruses (ERVs) integrated in the sheep nuclear genome

Sarbast Ihsan Mustafa, Trude Schwarzacher and John S. Heslop-Harrison The Nature and Chromosomal Landscape of Endogenous Retroviruses (ERVs) Integrated in the Sheep Nuclear Genome. DNA 2022, 2(1), 86-103; Free full text: https://doi.org/10.3390/dna2010007 Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) represent genomic components of retroviral origin that are found integrated in the genomes of various species of vertebrates. These genomic…

Conservation, divergence and functions of centromeric satellite DNA families in the Bovidae

350. Escudeiro A, Adega F, Robinson TJ, Heslop-Harrison JS, Chaves R. 2019. Conservation, divergence, and functions of centromeric satellite DNA families in the Bovidae. Genome Biology and Evolution 11(4):1152–1165. doi:10.1093/gbe/evz061 https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz061 (Open access) Repetitive satellite DNA (satDNA) sequences are abundant in eukaryote genomes, with a structural and functional role in centromeric function. We analysed the nucleotide…

Introgression of chromosome segments from multiple alien species in wheat breeding lines with wheat streak mosaic virus resistance

324. Ali N, Heslop-Harrison JS, Ahmad H, Graybosch RA, Hein GL, Schwarzacher T. 2016. Introgression of chromosome segments from multiple alien species in wheat breeding lines with wheat streak mosaic virus resistance. Heredity (2016) 117, 114–123; published online 1 June 2016 doi:10.1038/hdy.2016.36 Author version: N_Ali_et al 2016 Multiple Alien Introgressions in Wheat Publisher site: http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/hdy201636a.pdf Pyramiding of…

Preparation and fluorescent analysis of plant metaphase chromosomes

TS. Schwarzacher T. 2016. Preparation and fluorescent analysis of plant metaphase chromosomes. Chapter 7. In: Plant Cell Division: Methods and Protocols, ed Caillaud M-C; Methods in Molecular Biology 1370: 87-103. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3142-2_7. Humana Press, Springer, New York. Local Copy: Chromosome Preparation. Trude Schwarzacher. http://www.molcyt.com Good preparations are essential for informative analysis of both somatic and…

Chromosomal evolution in Brachiaria forage grasses with Fabiola Carvalho Santos

Fabiola Santos from University of Londrina, Brazil, is working on the Chromosomal evolution and the organization of repetitive DNA sequences in diploid and polyploid Brachiaria forage grasses in the molecular cytogenetics group in Leicester. Brachiaria is most important cultivated forage grass genus in Brazil (with billion-dollar production), and the genus includes diploid and polyploid species with similar…

Animal Cytogenetics, Gene Mapping and Chromosome Research – The 21st Colloquium Ischia, Naples, Italy

Cytogenetics of animals is moving forward rapidly with the integration of sequencing and robust phylogenies with methods of chromosome analysis. The 21st International Colloquium on Animal Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping held June 2014 covered a range of topics in comparative, molecular, veterinary and environmental cytogenetics, as well as a session on cytogenetics of non-mammalian vertebrates and…

Crocus and the origin of Saffron

305. Alsayied N, Schwarzacher T, Heslop-Harrison P. 2014. Crocus: research into the origin of saffron. Botanic Garden Newsletter 5: 3. Link to scan of Crocus and the origin of saffron article. The genus Crocus has nearly 100 species, each with unique characters of colour, flowering time or geographical distribution. We are aiming to understand the relationships of the different species, the diversity within species,…

Wild banana species: their classification and the sequencing of Musa balbisiana

Crop relatives are important – we learn about the relationships of wild germplasm in comparison to the domesticated forms, and about the genetics and genes in the wild species. Two papers in the last month advance our understanding of wild banana (Musa) from different perspectives. The first presents “A draft Musa balbisiana genome sequence for…

100 years after Sturtevant and the linear order of genes on chromosomes: an ECA cytogenetics session

Among the exciting Plenary Sessions at the European Cytogeneticists Association conference in Dublin – #ECA2013 – one marked 100 years since publication of Alfred H Sturtevant’s landmark research paper presenting the first genetic map of a chromosome (1913: J. Exp. Zool., 14 (1), 43-9. URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jez.1400140104 but see http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/s/ahs-13.pdf for the original paper and a commentary by Robert J. Robbins). In his…

Wheat-Thinopyrum introgression work wins prize for Niaz Ali, Hazara, Pakistan

Dr Niaz Ali, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan works on the introgression of characters from alien species into wheat, having completed his PhD in Leicester in 2012 with Dr Trude Schwarzacher. He presented his PhD work at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB http://www.sebiology.org/meetings /Valencia/Programmes.html) in the session on Exploiting genetic diversity for…