De novo Genome Sequencing of Salicornia: Generating Model Genomic Resource for Halophytes

Halophytes are plants that can tolerate extreme saline conditions, some able to grow in saline coastal deserts. They are as yet unexploited source of food, fodder and energy. Salicornia (Salicornia spp), a succulent herb native to salt marshes and estuar­ies, is promising because it can grow in directly in seawater and is already in the food and feed chains. Salicornia can serve as a source of protein and oil and is already used as a vegetable and as a feed crop, particularly for lamb. Despite its potential, salicornia has not been domesticated to improve yield, harvestability or other desirable agronomic traits. Today, domestication efforts logically begin with an understanding of the genome and transcriptome. We have sequenced the genomes of three salicornia species namely S. bigelovii, S. europaea and S. brachiata. The genome sequence will enable us to increase our understanding of the genetic basis of salt stress tolerance and to identify traits that can be aid in accelerating its domestication. We used Illumina HiSeq 2000 to generate paired end sequencing data from genomic shotgun libraries for de novo assembly. Contigs from the genome assemblies were created bioinformatically with Velvet program before being scaffolded with additional large insert mate pair libraries (3, 5 and 8Kbases) using SSPACE. We will present genome annotation results in the poster.