Ginseng Genome Database

Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is a perennial herbal plant belonging to the genus Panax in the family Araliaceae. It has been a most popular and iconic medicinal herb for thousands of years in Eastern Asia. Korean ginseng has a chromosome complement of 2n = 48, which is considered as an allotetraploid plant based on chromosome number and genomic study. Medicinal components and pharmacological efficacy of ginseng have been widely exploited, whereas genetic and genomic studies have just been started in recent years because of difficulties in maintaining plant individuals and producing progenies. Very limited genome study of P. ginseng has been available and we recently reported the results of genome structure and karyotyping. In addition, important genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis and environmental stress response, molecular markers for identification of P. ginseng cultivars and related species, and whole transcriptome data have been reported recently. However, it is still in an early stage that these studies could be fully integrated to Korean ginseng breeding program, due to deficiency of genetic and genomic information. To ensure foundational genetic and genomic resources for breeding program, Korean Ginseng Genome Project has been initiated in 2011 as a multidisciplinary research combined with genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and breeding.