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…

Enset in Ethiopia as a poorly characterized but resilient starch staple: review article

349. Borrell JS, Biswas MK, Goodwin M, Blomme G, Schwarzacher T, Heslop-Harrison JS, Wendawek AM, Berhanu A, Kallow S, Janssens S, Molla EL, Davis AP, Woldeyes F, Willis K, Demissew S, Wilkin P. 2019. Enset in Ethiopia: a poorly characterized but resilient starch staple. Annals of Botany 123: mcy214 online first https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcy214 (freely available download) Author version: borrell_enset_review_author_version_plusfiguresauthorversionDownload • Background Enset…

Perspectives on research with varietal diversity and sustainable utilization in enset (Ensete banana)

347. Wilkin P, Davis A, Demissew S, Etherington T, Goodwin M, Heslop-Harrison P, Schwarzacher T, Willis K. 2018. A perspective to enhance innovative research with emphasis on varietal diversity and sustainable utilization of enset (Ensete ventricosum). Ethiopian Journal of Biological Sciences 17(Suppl.): 201–209. Wilkin et al. Perspectives for research and enset. Ethiopian J Biol Sci…

New Project on Molecular Cytogenetics and Genomics of Ensete banana

We have a research project starting in 2017 on Ethiopian banana, Ensete ventricosum, for 18 months, in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Dr Paul Wilkin) and University of Addis Ababa (Professor Sebsebe Demissew). There is a post-doctoral position working with the project (closed 7 August 2017). The project “Modelling and genomics resources to enhance…

The landscape and structural diversity of LTR Retrotransposons in the Musa genome

334. Nouroz F, Noreen S, Ahmad H, Heslop Harrison JS(P). 2017. The landscape and structural diversity of LTR Retrotransposons in the Musa genome. Molecular Genetics and Genomics 292: 1051-1067. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00438-017-1333-1 Publisher site (££$$€€ needs subscription) Author version of manuscript: Nouroz_MGG2017_MusaLTRretrotransposons_AuthorVer Long terminal repeat retrotransposons represent a major component of plant genomes and act as drivers of genome…

Banana research at the botanic garden

324. Heslop-Harrison, P. 2015. Banana research at the botanic garden. University of Leicester Botanic Garden Newsletter 12: 4. November 2015. Dessert bananas and the cooking bananas or plantains are among the oldest crops in the world. Most crops were domesticated through a long pathway of selection and crossing but, for banana, virtually all the two thousand varieties which are grown throughout the…

The diversification and activity of hAT transposons in Musa genomes

Menzel G, Heitkam T, Seibt KM, Nouroz F, Müller-Stoerme M, Heslop-Harrison JS, Schmidt T. 2014. The diversification and activity of hAT transposons in Musa genomes. Chromosome Research 22: 559–571. DOI 10.1007/s10577-014-9445-5 and Pubmed link ID: 25377178 And author print hATs in Musa _2014_CR_MenzelEtAlAuthorVersion2014. Sequencing of plant genomes often identified the hAT superfamily as largest group of DNA…

In situ hybridization: a course on FISH and ChIp

In situ hybridization – a course on FISH and ChIp In situ hybridization, now largely with fluorescent detection so ‘fluorescent in situ hybridization’ or FISH, is a key method for localizing DNA sequences along chromosomes and occassionally within interphase nuclei. RNA in situ hybridization (not discussed here) is used for locating gene transcripts within nuclei….

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…