An International Plan for Sequencing and Annotation of Onion

As large-scale DNA sequencing technologies become more efficient and cheaper, the genomic DNAs of more and more plants are being sequenced, assembled, and annotated. These complete sequences are extremely valuable for the identification of specific genes associated with important phenotypes. The purpose of this document is to propose an efficient strategy for an international effort to sequence the onion nuclear DNA and provide the sequences and annotations on a freely accessible website. A single doubled-haploid (DH) line of onion should be chosen and its DNA made available to serve as the common reference genome for independent sequencing runs by different labs. This DH line should be used for development of segregating families and their DNAs freely distributed. These resources will enable translational genomics of onion by providing researchers world-wide tools to more efficiently select for important traits in onion improvement. Eventually the bioinformatics resources can be expanded to include other major Alliums, such as bunching onion, garlic, leek, and chive.