A Chinese research team from the Guangxi University has successfully decoded the genome of the modern cultivated sugarcane variety Xintaitang No. 22 (XTT22). The team was able to highlight the complex allopolyploid genome of sugarcane and its evolutionary mechanisms, as the research was recently published in the journal, Nature Genetics, reports Xinhua.
Sugarcane is significant in the production of sugar, alcohol, and bioenergy, offering substantial economic and agricultural value. XTT22 was formerly a leading sugarcane variety in planting area in China for 15 consecutive years, as more than 90 per cent of the country’s fourth and fifth-generation sugarcane varieties were developed using it as a parent.
According to a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Liu Yaoguang, the genome of XTT22 decoded in the study, is the most complete and highest-quality genome assembly of modern cultivated sugarcane till date.
Another CAS academic, Han Bin, noted that since the launch of the Sugarcane Expressed Sequence Tag (SUCEST) project in the 1990s, it has been replicated in countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, France, and the United States that have been jointly working to advance sugarcane genomics.
The earlier genome drafts of sugarcane faced significant issues, including incomplete chromosomes and highly-fragmented sequences, making it difficult to obtain a complete and accurate genome of modern cultivated sugarcane. “This study is like drawing a detailed ‘map’ of the sugarcane genome. In the past, the ‘map’ was so vague that we could only roughly navigate it”, said Zhang Jisen, a research team leader from the Guangxi University.
Sugarcane breeding is largely based on traditional hybridation methods, where parent plants were selected premised on experience to observe the performance of their offspring. This approach has been found to be both time-consuming and inefficient.
Leveraging advancements in genomics, scientists can now use the genomic map to precisely pinpoint genes closely associated with sugarcane yield and sugar content, enabling more targeted improvements and optimisation. “With the widespread application of genomics in sugarcane breeding, the yield, sugar content, and disease resistance of sugarcane are expected to see further improvements’’, Zhang added.
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