Draft Genome Sequences of Newly Distinguished Wild Rice Populations from Australia

Wild relatives of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.), belonging to the A genome type, represent a valuable gene pool for rice improvement. Two distinct taxa within the Australian perennial wild rice populations were recently identified in Northern Australia, both of which had previously been referred to as Australian O. rufipogon. To broaden our knowledge of the genomic nature of the two novel Australian wild rices we generated draft genomes for those taxa. We created the assemblies employing the massive parallel sequencing technology and data from paired-end and mate pair short reads (HiSeq2000, Illumina). All of the assemblies were assessed for quality using summary statistics (i.a. number of scaffolds, N50, NG50) and evaluation tools including core gene space assessment in the sequences. We also annotated the draft genomes using evidence based and ab initio gene prediction approaches. New regions in the sequences, specific to each of the novel Australian wild rice lineages, were identified. Moreover, whole genome comparison was carried out to define the genetic variation within those two individuals and facilitate our understanding of their genomic structure. These studies contribute to evaluation of the potential of the Australian wild rice populations as a novel source of genes providing breeders with unique disease resistances, environmental stress tolerances and possibly yield and grain quality traits.