News

In 2007, the United States Department of Energy (US-DOE) announced (http://www.jgi.doe.gov/News/news_6_8_07.html) that it will fund genome sequencing ofEucalyptus grandis, a fast-growing plantation tree species grown in tropical and subtropical regions of countries such as South Africa, Brazil and China.  E. grandis is considered a potential bioenergy crop.  After poplar, the E. grandis genome will only be the second forest tree genome to be sequenced.  Prof. Zander Myburg of the Department of Genetics at the University of Pretoria (and currently President of SAGS) is the principle investigator and UP the lead partner organization for this international project with co-investigators in the USA (Dr. Jerry Tuskan) and Brazil (Dr. Dario Grattapaglia). The Eucalyptus Genome Project Team recently announced that it has competed 77% (448 million bases) of the expected E. grandis genome (580 million bases) and that the genome will be completed by Jul 2009.  The International Eucalyptus Genome Network (EUCAGEN, www.eucagen.org), a world-wide network of more than 130 scientists coordinated by Prof. Myburg, is developing a series of genomic resources (e.g. genome libraries, expressed gene libraries, genetic maps and DNA markers) that will allow researchers to utilize the genome sequence for biological research and innovation.

The South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) has awarded a strategic grant of R1.5 million to UP to support the leadership role of UP in the Eucalyptus Genome Project and to fast-track local Eucalyptus genomics projects at UP. Prof. Myburg and his research team, in collaboration with the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Unit at UP (directed by Prof. Fourie Joubert), have embarked on a project to sequence the transcriptome and map the genome of a South African eucalypt plantation tree. This will allow them to obtain a complete catalogue of expressed genes for this tree and to discover thousands of DNA markers that can be used for molecular breeding of eucalypt trees in South Africa.