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.

Repetitive DNA in the catfish genome- rDNA, microsatellites, and Tc1-mariner transposon sequences in Imparfinis

339. Gouveia JG, Wolf IR, Vilas-Boas LA, Heslop-Harrison JS, Schwarzacher T, Dias AL. 2017. Repetitive DNA in the catfish genome: rDNA, microsatellites, and Tc1-mariner transposon sequences in Imparfinis species (Siluriformes, Heptapteridae). Journal of Heredity 108(6): 650-657. Journal link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esx065 Author PHHGouveia_CatfishRepeatsAuthorVersion Physical mapping of repetitive DNA families in the karyotypes of fish is important to understand the organization and evolution…

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…

Analysis of Petunia vein clearing virus (PVCV) sequences, retroelements and tandem repeats in Petunia axillaris N and P. inflata S6

325a. Schwarzacher T, Heslop-Harrison JS, Richert-Pöggeler KR. 2016. Analysis of Petunia vein clearing virus (PVCV) sequences, retroelements and tandem repeats in Petunia axillaris N and P. inflata S6. Supplementary manuscript 2. Nature Plants 2: article number 16074. Link to manuscript: Petunia_PVCV_Repeats_SchwarzacherEtAl2016 Within the genome sequence assemblies of P. axillaris (PaxiN) and P. inflata (PinfS6) and unassembled reads, we…

Diversity and relationships of Crocus sativus and its relatives analysed by IRAPs

315. Alsayied N, Fernández JA, Schwarzacher T, Heslop-Harrison JS. 2015. Diversity and relationships of Crocus sativus and its relatives analysed by Inter Retroelement Amplified Polymorphism (IRAP). Annals of Botany 116(3): 359-368. doi:10.1093/aob/mcv103 Crocus IRAP Diversity Nouf AlSayied Ann Bot Author VersionoufAnnBotAuthorVersion Background and Aims: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a sterile triploid (2n=3x=24) cultivated species, of…

Evolutionary genomics of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) in Brassica

317. Nouroz F, Noreen S, Heslop-Harrison JS. 2015. Evolutionary genomics of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) in Brassica. Molecular Genetics and Genomics (MGG) 290 (6): 2297–2312. DOI: 10.1007/s00438-015-1076-9 Brassica MITEs Author Version MGG download Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are truncated derivatives of autonomous DNA transposons, and are dispersed abundantly in most eukaryotic genomes. We aimed to characterize various MITEs families…

Nucleosomes and centromeric DNA packaging

304. Heslop-Harrison JS, Schwarzacher T. 2013. Nucleosomes and centromeric DNA packaging. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 110 (50): 19974–19975. http://www.pnas.org/content/110/50/19974.full.pdf+html http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319945110 – Author manuscript: Author Version 2013 – Powerpoint figure: Nucleosome Figure PNAS Schwarzacher HeslopHarrison The eukaryotic chromosome is a conserved structure, with the DNA double-helix wrapping around octamers of histone proteins to form the chromatin which is further packaged…

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…

Preserving genetic resources in agriculture: saffron and other EU projects

Maintaining and developing sustainable uses for agricultural genetic resources is essential for ensuring food security in a sustainable manner. In this report, the outcomes of 17 EU projects on genetic resources in animals, arable crops, forest trees and “fruits, vegetables and spices” is discussed. We were involved with the project on the Saffron Crocus, reported on pages…

Alien chromosome introgression transferring characters into bread wheat

In situ hybridization is now widely used to identify the nature and size of chromosome, chromosome arm and chromosome segment introgressions from alien or wild species in plant breeding lines. The molecular cytogenetics research group has several projects investigating introgression of chromosomes into wheat from rye, Thinopyrum (2x and 6x), Aegilops and other species or…