Draft tea tree genome published by Southern Cross University team
A new genome assembly and annotation promises insights into the genetic foundations of economically valuable traits in tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia).
Given the therapeutic and cosmetic value of terpene-rich tea tree essential oil, the genetics and biochemistry of terpene biosynthesis have been studied extensively. The publication of the draft genome for M. alternifolia extends currently available resources to investigate the genome structure and gene family evolution, and will enable further comparative genomic studies in the Myrtaceae.
The work by Southern Cross University’s Julia Voelker, Mervyn Shepherd, and Ramil Mauleon, was reported this week in Gigabyte: A high-quality draft genome for Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree): a new platform for evolutionary genomics of myrtaceous terpene-rich species.
In completing their high-quality draft genome, the researchers made excellent use of national research infrastructure provided by Australian BioCommons. They are one of a small group of early adopters who have been intensively testing a soon-to-be-launched service which will offer fully subsidised access for Australian based researchers to the proprietary bioinformatics pipeline, Fgenesh++, to enable automated eukaryotic genome annotation. The case for access to Fgenesh++ was identified via consultations with the BioCommons Genome Annotation community, which were captured in our Genome Annotation Infrastructure Roadmap for Australia. The service will be provided by BioCommons and hosted by Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre. The BUSCO analyses documented in the publication were run on the flagship BioCommons service, Galaxy Australia.
Based on the new assembly, curation of the terpene synthase gene family in tea tree continues. Using another BioCommons service that is about to be launched, the SCU group used the Australian Apollo Service to visualise gene prediction results and manually improve their gene models. You can hear more about this work at the upcoming webinar: Launching the new Apollo Service: collaborative genome annotation for Australian researchers.
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This open genome release forms part of an ongoing collaboration between SCU and the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association
