In 2013 a group of scientists led by the MPOB published the whole oil palm genome. The results were published in the prestigious journal Nature. This is a very important accomplishment for oil palm research, which opened the way for the effective use of genomic tools to improve the way oil palm breeding is performed. The time to release new planting materials suited for specific sites and purposes is going to be shortened. Also, we should expect to see better adapted plants for the everyday changing environment. We need this if we want to respond to climate change.
Did you now that oil palm has over 34,000 genes distributed in 16 pairs of chromosomes? We humans have 20,000 to 25,000 genes distributed in 23 pairs of chromosomes.
To read the full paper go to: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v500/n7462/full/nature12309.html
To browse the whole genome go to: http://gbrowse.mpob.gov.my/fgb2/gbrowse/Eg5/