March 29, 2024

Sugarcane plant in Mozambique

An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the results of a high-quality sequencing of sugarcane DNA. The name generally refers to the Saccharum officinarum species but actually, the cultivars are hybrids with the Saccharum spontaneum species, sometimes called wild sugarcane. The polyploid sugarcane genome has become one of the most complex known, which is why it’s been so difficult to completely sequence. Now a team of researchers combined different genetic techniques to obtain the genome of the variety referred to as R570, a typically modern cultivar.