Cassava genome research on GenomeWeb

Researchers from the Institute for Genome Sciences, the University of Maryland, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute, Roche 454 Life Sciences, and investigators in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania will also collaborate on the development and application of the new genetic resource.

JGI’s Community Sequencing Program selected the cassava genome as a pilot project in 2006. Sequencing began in earnest early this year, when JGI and Roche 454 Life Sciences committed resources to the project.

Using the Roche 454 platform, researchers generated more than 60 million reads, which they subsequently assembled into a draft genome representing roughly 95 percent of cassava genes. Most of the sequencing was reportedly completed within about eight weeks. The annotated cassava genome is available through JGI’s Phytozome web site.