Cucumber Genome Sequenced

The genome (DNA content) of one of the most commonly found ingredient in your salad, the cucumber (Cucumis sativus var. sativus L.), has been sequenced. A report was published in Nature Genetics on November 1, 2009, (PubMed ID 19881527) by the authors Huang, et al., on sequencing the "Chinese long" inbred line 9930 of the cucumber. Their study revealed that five of its seven chromosomes show fusions of ten ancestral chromosomes after divergence from Cucumis melo. Like papaya (PubMed 18432245), cucumber has about 26,600 protein coding genes in its genome.  The cucumber genome study is expected to usher in a new era of understanding fruit biology and improvement of agronomic traits of the closely related species of squashes and melons by the plant breeders.