Plant & Animal Genomes XIV Conference

January 14-18, 2006
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Sequence Samples From The Diploid Strawberry Model Species, Fragaria vesca

Thomas M. Davis¹ , Jeffrey L. Bennetzen² , Ana C. Pontaroli² , Phillip SanMiguel³ , Kevin M. Folta⁴ , Denise C.M. Tombolato⁴ , M. Shields¹ , Qian Zhang¹

¹  Department of Plant Biology, University of New Hampshire, Rudman Hall, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

²  Department of Genetics, Life Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA

³  Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA.

⁴  Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program and Horticultural Sciences Department, PO Box 110690, 1301 Fifield Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

The basic (x=7) strawberry genome size is only about 25% larger than that of Arabidopsis thaliana, ranking its C value among the smallest of any cultivated crop species. We are examining ~40 kb sequence samples at 50 sites in the genome of the strawberry diploid (2n=2x=14 model) species, Fragaria vesca. The combined sequence sample of about 2 Mb, representing about 1% of the F. vesca genome, is being obtained by ~10x coverage sequencing of 25 gene-targeted and 25 randomly selected clones from a fosmid library of F. vesca ssp. americana 'Pawtuckaway'. Predicted genes and ORFs were identified using FGENESH, and tBlastx searches of the Genbank NR and EST databases. In a preliminary analysis of 7 gene-targeted fosmids, gene density was about 1 predicted gene per 6 kb, just slightly lower than the average gene density (1 per 5 kb) in Arabidopsis. Four of the initially sequenced fosmids contained NBS-LRR resistance-like genes. A detailed description of all sequenced fosmids will be presented.