Article Abstract

Volume 36, No. (4), 2026 (August)
DE NOVO DRAFT ASSEMBLY AND ANNOTATION OF THE MORINGA OLEIFERA GENOME FROM PAKISTAN
Muhammad Tariq Pervez, Syed Hassan Abbas, Masroor Ellahi Babar, Tanveer Hussain

M. T. Pervez 1†, S. H. Abbas2, 1† and M. E. Babar 3 and T. Hussain 1*

1 Department of Biological Sciences, Virtual University of Pakistan

2 Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The Institute of Biomedical Sciences, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China

3 University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore, Pakistan

Corresponding Author: tanveer.hussain@vu.edu.pk
Published Online First: May 01, 2026
ABSTRACT

Moringa oleifera, commonly known as the horseradish (drumstick tree), is a fast-growing, mineral-rich evergreen tree in the family Moringaceae, with wide applications in herbal medicine, agriculture, and livestock production. Despite its importance, genomic resources remain limited, with only one public draft assembly previously available. This study presents a de novo draft genome of Moringa oleifera from Pakistan, sequenced by the Illumina HiSeq platform using paired-end libraries. The assembly comprises ~205.2 Mb across 13,872 scaffolds (N50 = 17,279 bp) and includes 26,215 predicted protein-coding genes. Assembly quality, supported by completeness assessments, indicates the recovery of 83.9% of embryophyte BUSCOs and 84.68% of CEGMA core genes. This Pakistan-origin reference fills a vital geographic and technical gap for M. oleifera, enabling robust functional annotation and comparative analysis in the Moringa genus. It provides an immediate foundation for marker development and downstream applications in molecular breeding, biotechnology, and stress adaptation research.

Keywords: Moringa oleifera, genome, assembly, annotation, Pakistan
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Cite Score: 1.3

JCR Year: 2025

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Journal Impact Factor: 0.5

HEC Category: W

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Print ISSN: 1018-7081

Electronic ISSN: 2309-8694

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