De novo genome assembly of Tectona grandis (Teak) with 2993 scaffolds

Teak (Tectona grandis L. f.) is one of the precious bench mark
tropical hardwood having qualities of durability, strength and visual
pleasantries. Natural teak populations harbour a variety of
characteristics that determine their economic, ecological and
environmental importance. Sequencing of whole nuclear genome of teak
provides a platform for functional analyses and development of genomic
tools in applied tree improvement. A draft genome of 317 Mb was assembled
at 151× coverage and annotated 36, 172 protein-coding genes. Approximately
about 11.18% of the genome was repetitive. Microsatellites or simple
sequence repeats (SSRs) are undoubtedly the most informative markers in
genotyping, genetics and applied breeding applications. We generated
182,712 SSRs at the whole genome level, of which, 170,574 perfect SSRs
were found; 16,252 perfect SSRs showed in
silico polymorphisms across six genotypes suggesting their
promising use in genetic conservation and tree improvement programmes.
Genomic SSR markers developed in this study have high potential in
advancing conservation and management of teak genetic resources.
Phylogenetic studies confirmed the taxonomic position of the
genus Tectona within the family Lamiaceae.
Interestingly, estimation of divergence time inferred that the Miocene
origin of the Tectona genus to be around 21.4508 million
years ago.