Bread matters: a national initiative to profile the genetic diversity of Australian wheat

Edwards, D., Wilcox, S., Barrero, R.A., Fleury, D., Cavanagh, C.R., Forrest, K.L., Hayden, M.J., Moolhuijzen, P., Keeble-Gagnère, G., Bellgard, M.I., Lorenc, M.T., Shang, C.A., Baumann, U., Taylor, J.M., Morell, M.K., Langridge, P., Appels, R. and Fitzgerald, A. (2012) Bread matters: a national initiative to profile the genetic diversity of Australian wheat. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 10 (6). pp. 703-708.

Abstract

The large and complex genome of wheat makes genetic and genomic analysis in this important species both expensive and resource intensive. The application of next-generation sequencing technologies is particularly resource intensive, with at least 17Gbp of sequence data required to obtain minimal (1×) coverage of the genome. A similar volume of data would represent almost 40× coverage of the rice genome. Progress can be made through the establishment of consortia to produce shared genomic resources. Australian wheat genome researchers, working with Bioplatforms Australia, have collaborated in a national initiative to establish a genetic diversity dataset representing Australian wheat germplasm based on whole genome next-generation sequencing data. Here, we describe the establishment and validation of this resource which can provide a model for broader international initiatives for the analysis of large and complex genomes.