Portugal, and its is particularly relevant as it focused on one of the major national symbols - the cork oak, which was declared Portuguese National Tree by the Parliament in 2011.
In the project "Genosuber - Sequencing of the cork oak genome (Quercus suber)", researchers have identified the sequence of more than 900 million base pairs of DNA from a selected tree (cork tree HL8). Although larger than that of rice, the cork oak genome is only 1/3 of the size of the human genome.
The results of this research are already available worldwide through an international and free database, making it an important tool for knowledge development in the cork oak genetics, especially to the national research teams that strived for these results for the development of their own scientific work and research around oak and cork.
Margarida Oliveira, ITQB NOVA researcher and one of the corresponding authors, mentioned that «it has been a pleasure to have been involved in this challenging project from its inception. ITQB NOVA has been involved in several steps, from preparing the project application, getting funding, gathering the team, including public and private stakeholders, but also in the field and lab work, collecting samples, isolating nuclei and DNA, doing bioinformatics analysis, interpreting and discussing results and of course contributing for writing this paper». She added that «Sequencing cork oak genome was a enormous task that will now let us go further in the knowledge of its genomics and genetics, with implications not only in Science but also in our Culture and Economy».
The study will continue in order to extend the sequence now made public and a better version of the cork oak genome is expected to be released later this year. At the same time, the team of researchers also aims to research the biological processes involved in the formation and quality of cork, and to manage the population of cork oaks F1, the only known cork oak population with pedigree, a very important resource for the research around this tree.
The project kicked-off at the end of 2013 with funding from InAlentejo, and attracting several private sponsors, such as Corticeira Amorim, Cork Supply and Caixa de Crédito Agrícola. The project has already won the Vida Rural Alqueva prize (16 April, 2015) and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award for Agricultural Credit, in the category "High Potential Projects Promoted by Associate of Agricultural Credit "(2 Dec. 2015).
The sequence of the cork oak genome (first version) and the mapping of the cork oak genome are available at the website of the NCBI, National Center for Biotechnology Information.
Source: ITQB NOVA