Abstract
We present a draft genome sequence for enset (Ensete ventricosum) available via the Sequence Read Archive (accession number SRX202265) and GenBank (accession number AMZH01. Enset feeds 15 million people in Ethiopia, but is arguably the least studied African crop. Our sequence data suggest a genome size of approximately 547 megabases, similar to the 523-megabase genome of the closely related banana (Musa acuminata). At least 1.8% of the annotated M. acuminata genes are not conserved in E. ventricosum. Furthermore, enset contains genes not present in banana, including reverse transcriptases and virus-like sequences as well as a homolog of the RPP8-like resistance gene. We hope that availability of genome-wide sequence data will stimulate and accelerate research on this important but neglected crop.
Highlights
Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is one of the most important crop plants grown in Ethiopia, where it makes a major contribution of to the food security of the country, feeding at least 15 million people
We aimed to investigate genetic similarity between enset and banana to assess the usefulness of banana genomic resources for application to enset
To identify which banana protein-coding genes are conserved in enset, we aligned our enset shotgun sequence reads against the 36,542 M. acuminata coding sequences identified by D’Hont and colleagues [6] using BWA [19]
Summary
Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is one of the most important crop plants grown in Ethiopia, where it makes a major contribution of to the food security of the country, feeding at least 15 million people. Enset is a multi-purpose crop, with all parts of the plant being utilized for human food, animal forage, medicine, or ornamental uses [2]. It has the capacity for high yield, can be stored for long periods, can be harvested at any time of the year and at any stage over a period of several years [3], thereby offering advantages over seasonal crops. We aimed to investigate genetic similarity between enset and banana to assess the usefulness of banana genomic resources for application to enset
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