Eragrostis tef Genome and Transcriptome Sequencing

Eragrostis tef is an allotetraploid cereal of central importance to the food security in the horn of Africa.  We are sequencing the entire genome of tef. This enables us to design primers for gene amplification, to find genes and gene networks responsible for important traits and to compare the evolution of tef to that of other cereals. Currently, we have around 50-fold coverage of the genome and have completed a first assembly. The resulting genome has a size of 688 Megabases, 94-96% of the 1C genome size estimated by flow cytometry. Results of some benchmarking tests will also be presented. Sequencing of a normalized library of the transcriptome revealed around 38,000 transcripts.  RNASeq experiments, designed to find over- or under-expression of transcripts under certain tissue types or conditions, have also been conducted under the conditions of control, drought, water-logging, root tissue and shoot tissue.  Preliminary results of the genome, transcriptome and RNASeq experiments will be discussed.