Researchers from iBET contribute to unraveling the genetic sequence of a species of Eucalyptus – a work published this week in Nature
June 12, 2014
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 defense against a diverse array of pests as well as having medicinal and industrial uses.
In this work, the authors 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.