Biotech Updates

Australian Scientists Decode Clover DNA

September 7, 2016

A group of Western Australian and Japanese scientists have cracked the genome sequence of the subterranean (sub) clover. Sub clover is the most important annual pasture legume in Australia, sown on an estimated 29 million hectares of agricultural land.

University of Western Australia (UWA) molecular biologist Parwinder Kaur said that the challenge was not only to determine the sub clover DNA sequence, but also to understand the genes from a functional point of view. Their research is the first published genome sequence for an annual clover, and it describes 85.4 percent of the sub clover genome which contains 42,706 genes.

UWA Centre for Plant Genetics and Breeding Director Professor William Erskine said this understanding of the sub clover genome would help breeding programs of other important pasture legumes with more complex genomes, such as white and red clovers, annual medics, and lucerne.

For more details, read the news release at the UWA News.