Physical map of potato created

Despite the importance of the potato as one of the world's most commonly eaten crops, so far little genomic research has been done due to the heterozygous and tetraploid nature of its genome.

A team of scientists from Scotland and the Netherlands explained that due to these difficulties, the development of physical map resources that can facilitate genomic analyses has been limited.

In a study published by BMC Genomics, the team used quantitative analysis processes to create the first two genome-wide BAC physical maps of potato, which were made from the heterozygous diploid clone RH89-039-16.

The first was a gel electrophoresis-based physical map, while the second was a sequence-tag-based physical map, with the contig information of both physical maps united in a single table that describes a hybrid potato physical map.

To conclude, the team explained that the reference framework they used for anchoring and ordering of genomic sequences of clone RH opens the possibility of further sequencing in a more efficient way.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths