The RRIM 600 Rubber Tree Genome: Sequencing and Analysis Strategies of a Premier Pedigree Clone

The field of plant genomics research has benefited immensely from the development and widespread adoption of next-generation sequencing techniques. As DNA sequencing has become orders of magnitudes cheaper and more efficient, genome sequencing of any organism of choice is now within reach of individual research groups. These advances led to an escalation of available genomic resources in the plant sciences. Although advances in sequencing technologies have enabled the decoding of the genetic blueprint of many plant species, these improvements have generated many challenges and tasks ahead. The software and algorithms used to analyse genomics data need to be developed in line with the pace of evolving sequencing platforms. The effective deployment of sequencing technologies to genome studies is also fraught with challenges including high levels of heterozygosity and repeat sequences, which are common to many plants with large genome sizes. Here, we review approaches used in the sequencing, assembly and annotation of the Hevea brasiliensis RRIM 600 genome as well as challenges in sequencing plant genomes.