| Phalaenopsis species are popular ornamental
plants worldwide because of their elegant appearance and extended longevity, and they are of
great economic importance for the floral industry. P. equestris is an important breeding
parent because of its many colorful flowers in a single inflorescence. It has a karyotype of
2N = 2X = 38 with uniform small-size chromosomes of 1–2.5 μm in length. Its genome size is
estimated to be 1.16 × 109 bp per haploid genome, which is relatively small in comparison to
the genomes of other species in the same genus or even other genera.
We assembled 93% of 1.086 Gb genome of P. equestris, and predicted 29,431 protein-coding
genes yielded 3,694 gene families. The complete genome sequence of P. equestris will provide
an important resource to start exploring orchid diversity and evolution at the genome level,
which will be important for ecological and conservation purposes. The genome sequence will
also be a key resource for the development of new concepts and techniques in genetic
engineering, such as molecular marker–assisted breeding and the production of transgenic
plants,which are necessary to increase the efficiency of orchid breeding and aid orchid
horticulture research. The sequence was published in :
“The genome sequence of the orchid Phalaenopsis equestris”. Cai et al. 2015. Nature
Genetics.
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