Telopea speciosissima (waratah)

Aim: Reference genomes (pilot)
Project initiation: Dec 2018

Example
Reproduced with permission from Maurizio Rossetto.

Project collaborators:

  • Jason Bragg | Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney
  • Maurizio Rossetto | Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney
  • Marlien Van Der Merwe | Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney
  • Hervé Sauquet | Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney
  • Patricia Lu-Irving | Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney
  • Greg Bourke | Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mt Tomah
  • Richard Edwards | The University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Stephanie Chen | The University of New South Wales, Sydney

Project description:

There is no reference genome for Telopea. The most closely related genome is for Macadamia, which is also in family Proteaceae. Telopea speciosissima is the floral emblem of New South Wales and has great resonance with the public, as evidenced by the popularity of various cultivars as ornamental plants.  The availability of a high-quality genome will facilitate basic research into the processes leading to differentiation among different lineages of waratah. A genome will raise the interesting possibility of marker assisted breeding for floral characters as well as pest and disease resistance.  

Telopea is native to the Sydney region and is widely represented at the Blue Mountains Botanical Garden in Mt Tomah. The samples are part of an accessioned collection and the submitting groups’ institution has a strong history of propagation of cultivars of this species. The RBGDT will undertake extraction of RNA and high molecular weight DNA. The RBGDT and UNSW will contribute to the genome assembly.

Publication:

Chromosome-level de novo genome assembly of Telopea speciosissima (New South Wales waratah) using long-reads, linked-reads and Hi-C

Accession numbers: https://www.genomicsforaustralianplants.com/research/

Media:

Waratah’s genetic puzzle revealed in world-first research, Jan 2022
https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/Stories/2021/Waratah-s-genetic-puzzle-revealed-in-world-first-r

Assembling the waratah reference genome, by Stephanie Chen, Feb 2021
https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/Science/Virtual-science-seminars/The-waratah-genome