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Decoded the genome sequence of Ficus erecta, a wild relative species of common fig

Updated:February 25, 2020 (Tuesday)

~Breeding of strong disease resistant fig is expected~

Kazusa DNA Research Institute
Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science, NARO
National Institute of Genetics, Research Organization of Information and Systems

Overview

  • Kazusa DNA Research Institute, in collaboration with Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science, NARO (NIVFS), National Institute of Genetics Research Organization of Information and Systems, Agricultural Technology Research Center Hiroshima Prefectural Technology Research Institute, and Fukuoka Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute has deciphered the genome of Ficus erecta, a wild relative species of Fig (Ficus carica).
  • Ficus erecta has strong intrinsic resistance to " Ceratocystis canker", which causes significant damage to fig production and hence attempts have been made to introduce this resistance gene into fig cultivars. However, since it consumes time and effort to determine disease resistance from hybrid seedlings, a breeding method using genomic information was required.
  • Using new technologies such as PacBio long-read sequencing that has been practically applied in recent years, the genome was efficiently decoded by continuously reading relatively long DNA sequences.
  • The candidate genes that show strong resistance to Ceratocystis canker was identified by comparative analysis of hybrid seedlings between fig and F. ereca, and DNA marker that can be used for genotyping was developed. The research results were published online on January 24 in the international scientific journal The Plant Journal.

Publication

The Ficus erecta genome towards Ceratocystis canker resistance breeding in common fig (F. carica). Shirasawa K, Yakushiji H, Nishimura R, Morita T, Jikumaru S, Ikegami H, Toyoda A, Hirakawa H and Isobe S. The Plant Journal
DOI : 10.1111/tpj.14703

Reference Information:


Ficus erecta
(Photo courtesy: NARO)