In the past decade, many breeding tools for eucalyptus have relied on the Eucalyptus grandis reference genome published in 2014 by a team led by University of Pretoria scientists with help from DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers. 

A decade later, enabled once again by the JGI’s Community Science Program, the team aimed to provide an improved eucalyptus genome assembly, this time generated using advanced technologies to reconstruct the complete sequences of individual chromosomes. The team describes the latest eucalyptus reference genome, one generated using an E. grandis tree that was commercially cultivated for industrial purposes in South Africa. The new improved genome assembly will help support targeted genetic breeding of eucalypts as woody biomass crops for the bioeconomy.

 Learn more here on the JGI website.