[GDR] Apple Genome Sequencing Initiative at Washington State University

Dear Rosaceae Community,

A public initiative to sequence the apple genome has been established at Washington State University. The sequence will enable functional genomics research in the Maloideae sub-family and will benefit other members of the family. We are sequencing a doubled haploid golden delicious material that was kindly provided by the group at INRA in Angers, France. This will complement the IASMA heterozygous apple genome sequencing initiative and other publicly available genomic resources for Malus.

Seed funding for the initiative has been provided by the Agriculture Research Center and Dept of Horticulture at WSU with additional support from the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. We are also submitting proposals to attract federal funding to obtain a finished genome sequence. This initiative aims to provide the data to the public as it is generated through the Genome Database for Rosaceae (www.rosaceae.org).

The Apple Genome Sequencing Initiative has been established by the following core group:

Amit Dhingra, Horticultural Genomics and Biotechnology, WSU, adhingra@wsu.edu, 509-335-3625 Dorrie Main, Bioinformatics, WSU, dorrie@wsu.edu, 509-335-2774 Ananth Kalyanaraman, Computational Genomics, WSU Roger Bumgarner, Center for Expression Arrays, University of Washington Jim McFerson, Manager, Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission Elisabeth Chevreau, INRA at Angers, France Charles-Eric Durel, INRA at Angers, France Yves Lespinasse, INRA at Angers, France

Thanks to the community members who have already agreed to support and/or participate in the initiative. We would greatly welcome additional community support and participation to obtain a complete reference genome sequence for apple. Looking forward to your feedback and comments.

Thanks and best regards,

Amit

Amit Dhingra, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Genomics and Biotechnology Department of Horticulture & LA and Molecular Plant Sciences Program Center for Integrated Biotechnology

PO Box 646414, 46 Johnson Hall Pullman, WA 99164-6414 Phone: (509) 335-3625; Cell: (352) 246-4092 Fax: (509) 335-8690; Email: adhingra@wsu.edu http://molecularplants.wsu.edu/research/dhingra/index.htm