High Quality Apple Genome Obtained
A recent revelation in the apple breeding community has yielded a high-quality apple genome. The fruit, being as easily accessible as it is, has been fine-tuned to satisfy the market. The new genome has trademarks that lead as far back as 21 million years.
Using this very high-quality genome, scientists from INRA-France were able to conduct epigenetic studies focused on the transmission of information independently of the apple DNA sequence.
Our work on the apple genome and epigenome is finally published! https://t.co/jhSscZzCcn #OA @NatureGenet @PacBio @bionanogenomics pic.twitter.com/FcLyEYbL0A
— Etienne Bucher (@methylcytosine) June 5, 2017
Apples are one of the most widely consumed fruits in the world, and 84.6 million tons of the fruit are produced each year. In order to enable the more efficient selection of new apple varieties, it is essential to gain access to a high-quality genome. This will permit the genetic and epigenetic studies that are essential to identifying the key genes involved, for example, in fruit size and color or disease resistance.
Based on a genetic map with a high density of markers, it was possible to assemble the genome in 17 pseudomolecules representing the 17 chromosomes of the apple. With a total…
