Blueprints for Blueberry: A Genome Assembly and Annotation

The paper reports on the current state of the blueberry genome. While many plant sequencing efforts are underway across the plant kingdom, the vaccinium genus is under represented. The goal in sequencing the blueberry is to anchor this part of the evolutionary tree and to generate a genome reference will act as a resource to guide better and more efficient breeding. This in turn aids growing, berry collecting, processing and improved human nutrition. Marker guided breeding benefits from having a genome resource to associate gene regulation with desirable plant traits.  Here, we describe the current status of assembly, the available resources to the scientific community and highlight future strategies towards achieving a complete genome.