Brachypodium Genome Published in Nature

The genome of Brachypodium distachyon, a wild annual grass endemic to the Mediterranean and Middle East, has been sequenced. This is the first member of the economically important Pooideae subfamily, which includes wheat and barley, to be sequenced. Comparative genomics using the Brachypodium, rice and sorghum genomes provide insights into genome evolution of the grasses and will aid future analyses of large and complex genomes such as that of wheat. Availability of this genome sequence should help establish Brachypodium, which is easily cultivated and amenable to genetic manipulation, as a model for developing new energy and food crops.

The full paper can be found here