Dear Colleagues:

The draft genome assemblies of double haploid apple (Malus x domestica cv. "Golden Delicious"), double haploid pear (Pyrus communis cv "Doyenne du Comice"), sweet cherry (Prunus avium cv "Stella") and almond (Pyrus amygdalus - 2 selections S3067 and Lauranne) are being made available to the research community prior to publication via our Genome Portal http://genomicsdata.wsu.edu/public_access/index.php

The data may be downloaded and used by those who agree to the terms of release. The information should not be further re-distributed or publicly released. If you wish for someone in your laboratory to use the data, they must all read and agree to the access terms as defined on the portal. Please access the terms of agreement and set up a new account at http://genomicsdata.wsu.edu/public_access/index.php?r=site/newaccount

We welcome community members to collaborate in the ongoing efforts on genome analysis and contribute to the manuscripts under preparation. You can indicate your areas of interest on the new account sign up page. It is expected that scientists who access these data, will not trespass on the consortia members' ongoing efforts to analyze and publish a whole genome analysis of the afore-listed genomes. Further anyone who accesses these data will agree not to publish whole-genome or whole chromosome scale analyses of the afore-listed genomes, analyses of gene families/genome structures/ repetitive sequences, comparative analyses with other organisms including other published plant genomes, or other analyses such that they encroach and limit our opportunity to publish the findings of our work.

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the support received from our respective Universities, Institutions, Federal, State and Commodity funding sources that made this work possible. Please see the attached document for details regarding consortia members and funding support.

On behalf of DH Apple, Comice Pear, Sweet Cherry and Almond Genome project consortia,

Sincerely,

Amit

Amit Dhingra, Ph.D. Associate Professor Genomics and Biotechnology Department of Horticulture Molecular Plant Sciences Graduate Program

PO Box 646414, 155 Johnson Hall Pullman, WA 99164-6414 Phone: (509) 335-3625; Cell: (509) 432-3683 Fax: (509) 335-8690; Email: adhingra@wsu.edumailto:adhingra@wsu.edu www.genomics.wsu.eduhttp://www.genomics.wsu.edu/