Repetitive part of the banana (Musa acuminata) genome investigated by low-depth 454 sequencing.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Bananas and plantains (Musa spp.) are grown in more than a hundred tropical and subtropical countries and provide staple food for hundreds of millions of people. They are seed-sterile crops propagated clonally and this makes them vulnerable to a rapid spread of devastating diseases and at the same time hampers breeding improved cultivars. Although the socio-economic importance of bananas and plantains cannot be overestimated, they remain outside the focus of major research programs. This slows down the study of nuclear genome and the development of molecular tools to facilitate banana improvement.

Results

In this work, we report on the first thorough characterization of the repeat component of the banana (M. acuminata cv. 'Calcutta 4') genome. Analysis of almost 1

SUBMITTER: Hribova E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2956553 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature