Researchers from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation
(Embrapa) have produced thegenome sequence of signal grass (/Urochloa
ruziziensis/), one of the most used forage grasses in tropical agriculture.

Embrapa researcher Marco Pessoa Filho explains that/U. ruziziensis/has
evolutionary proximity to other Urochloa species most used in cultivated
tropical pastures â??/U. brizantha/,/U. decumbens/, and/U. humidicola/.
But while these species reproduce asexually,/U. ruziziensis/has a mode
of sexual reproduction through the exchange of pollen. This
characteristic is an advantage of/U. ruziziensis/, as it gives the
possibility of recombining the genetic diversity of the species through
crosses and of selecting the best combinations by classical genetic
improvement.

The genome sequence obtained in this work will be used in further
research on genomics, advanced biology, genetics, characterization, and
the use of genetic resources in breeding programs for tropical forage
grasses. It will also serve as a basis for the discovery of genomic
variants and phenotypes, characterization of germplasm and genetic
mapping, and the application of new gene editingtechnologies such asCRISPR.

Sequenciamento do genoma de Urochloa ruziziensis potencializa
melhoramento gen??tico de esp??cies forrageiras - Portal Embrapa
[www.embrapa.br]