NRGene has successfully assembled the strawberry genome. While most plant, animal and human genomes are diploid with two variant for each gene, the strawberry has eight nearly identical copies of each gene. According to NRGene, this has made accurate phasing difficult, until the company used its DeNovoMAGICTM 3.0. In only two weeks, the octoploid, heterozygous strawberry genome was assembled using reads produced on Illumina sequencing technology and then assembled by NRGene’s cloud-based DeNovoMAGICTM 3.0 software.

“It’s exciting to see how NRGene’s analysis, combined with data from Illumina sequencers, can be used to quickly and affordably assemble complex genomes, like that of the strawberry,” said Ryan Rapp, associate director, Agrigenomics for Illumina. “We hope that this technology will make genomics accessible to agricultural researchers worldwide, helping to improve the food supply to make it more sustainable and efficient.”

According to a press release, NRGene’s DeNovoMAGICTM 3.0 delivers complete, highly accurate genome assemblies in the form of long, phased sequences using Illumina-based reads. As more genomes are generated, NRGene’s PanMAGICTM is used to compare the complete genome sequences of multiple individual samples to capture the broad genomic diversity, better pinpointing positive traits across all varieties.

“With the data from NRGene, strawberry breeders will be able to accelerate the release of better performing strawberry varieties, creating hardier, more disease-resistant varieties with longer shelf lives,” said Sachiko Isobe, head of the plant genomics and genetics laboratory at Japan’s Kazusa DNA Research Institute.

NRGene states that the success of mapping the strawberry genome demonstrates that complex genomes can be mapped quickly and accurately. Click here for detailed results.