The Rutgers basil team is excited to announce that it has sequenced the first pseudo-chromosome level reference genome for basil using the Ocimum basilicum ‘RUSB22’. This cultivar was selected due to its characteristic sweet basil aroma and appearance, resistance to Fusarium wilt and important role in the breeding program [1-4]. You can find the .fasta sequence file for this genome on this US Basil Consortium website in the “Genome Database” section under the “Resources” tab [5]. The genome annotation and corresponding publication will be coming soon!
References:
- Patel, M., Lee, R., Merchant, E.V., Juliani, H.R., Simon, J.E. and Tepper, B.J. (2021). Descriptive aroma profiles of fresh sweet basil cultivars (Ocimum spp.): Relationship to volatile chemical composition. Journal of Food Science, 86, 3228–3239. 10.1111/1750-3841.15797
- Pyne, R., Koroch, A., Wyenandt, A. and Simon, J. (2015). Inheritance of resistance to downy mildew in sweet basil. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 140, 396-403. 10.21273/JASHS.140.5.396.
- Pyne, R., Honig, J., Vaiciunas, J., Koroch, A., Wyenandt, C., Bonos, S. and Simon, J. (2017). A first linkage map and downy mildew resistance QTL discovery for sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) facilitated by double digestion restriction site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq). PLoS ONE, 12(9), 1-23. e0184319. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184319
- Zhang, X., Chen, L.Y., Lawton, M.A., Simon, J.E. and Di, R. (2021). CRISPR-Editing of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) homoserine kinase gene for improved downy mildew disease resistance. Frontiers in Genome Editing, 3, 1-8. 10.3389/fgeed.2021.629769.
- Mattera, R., Brindisi, L. and Simon, J.E. (2023). Ocimum basilicum ‘RUSB22’ reference genome. US Basil Consortium. Dataset.