ORG.one project - Juglans cinerea: sequencing the Butternut genome for applied conservation biology

Rapid sequencing of the critically endangered Juglans cinerea (Butternut) as part of the ORG.one project https://org.one/oo. Trees are fundamentally important for healthy ecosystems and a healthy planet. Globally, trees are facing an extinction crisis, with nearly 30 % of trees threatened under the IUCN red list designations. The butternut (Juglans cinerea) is a hardwood tree from eastern North America that is endangered by an invasive canker-forming fungus. Butternut populations have collapsed in recent decades and face viability crises across its entire geographic distribution. Efforts to identify and breed resistance into the tree are slowly making progress. This project seeks to accelerate the identification and understanding of the genomic basis of canker disease resistance by sequencing, assembling, and annotating the first genome for this species.