DAWN of a new era for international wheat research

The enduring management of valuable genomics data can be a challenge as time goes on. The Diversity Among Wheat geNomes (DAWN) resource continues to yield valuable insights into the diversity among wheat genomes years after its initial creation, and is hosted on the Australian Apollo Service to ensure sustained and stable access for the international wheat research community.

DAWN supports the exploration of the genetics of wheat strains by providing an accessible way to visualise and compare the Trictium aestivum (bread wheat) genomes and associated data, such as protein-coding regions (exome capture data) and gene expression (RNA-seq data) to further understand genetic diversity. Researchers importantly now have the capability of collaboratively annotating wheat genomes and editing their models using the Apollo software. 

The original developer of DAWN, Dr Nathan Watson-Haigh, supported the capability expansion from static visualisations to collaborative annotations and is pleased to see researchers making excellent use of the resource. Rudi Appels, Professor (Honorary), University of Melbourne, Research Fellow, AgriBio, Latrobe University, is leveraging both the Australian Apollo Service and DAWN to continually identify and update variable regions in the wheat genome.

Rudi has witnessed rapid advances over his years involved in the research of the large and complex wheat genome, overcoming challenges in sequencing, assembly and analysis. He reflects that new tools offer new opportunities for increased engagement amongst researchers, which in turn supports better research outputs.

“For the analysis of the large datasets that underpin wheat genomes, the Apollo software has provided the much needed support for biology-oriented researchers such as myself. The Apollo software speaks in a visual language that enables biologists to communicate with the bioinformatics colleagues at a level normally reserved for computational and bioinformatics experts. Real-time sharing is now feasible too, which allows communal activity during teaching or working with colleagues.”

The ability to collaboratively improve genome annotations using Apollo fast-tracks advances. Computer-generated gene models based on work from other organisms such as rice, barley and Arabidopsis can provide a first approximation of structure. Using Apollo, RNA transcript data can be easily integrated to edit missing sections of genes, correct naming of genes, amend intron-exon structure details, and investigate sections of the genome sequence not tackled by the automated methods.

Read more about DAWN, Rudi’s research, or Apollo, or apply for your own access to the fully-subsided Australian Apollo Service.

BioCommons partners with QCIF to manage the Australian Apollo Service, which is underpinned by computational resources provided by AARNET’s ARDC Nectar Research Cloud node. These efforts are supported by funding from Bioplatforms Australia and the Queensland Government RICF. Bioplatforms is enabled by NCRIS.