= Fragaria vesca
{c}
<Fragaria vesca>, the woodland <strawberry>, is a small perennial <flowering plant> in <Fragaria> and <Rosaceae>. It is a <diploid> experimental model, with $2n=14$ <chromosomes>: seven corresponding pairs. Like other <strawberries>, it bears small dry <achenes> on an enlarged fleshy <receptacle (botany)>.<The genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) by Vladimir Shulaev and others>[Abstract and Introduction: study organism,ploidy and fruit anatomy]{ref}
Its genome illustrates the difference between a cell's chromosome complement and an assembly's reference representation. A draft published online in 2010 and in the 2011 journal volume combined extensive <DNA sequencing> with a genetic linkage map to anchor sequence into seven reference pseudochromosomes. Seven reference sequences therefore do not mean that ordinary diploid body cells contain only seven chromosomes.<The genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) by Vladimir Shulaev and others>[Abstract:240Mb genome,39fold sequencing and seven mapped pseudochromosomes]{ref}
The plant also supports experiments connecting anatomy to molecular activity. A 2013 study compared five fruit tissue types across five developmental stages using <RNA sequencing>. Keeping <achenes> and receptacle tissues separate allowed <gene expression> patterns to be assigned to particular parts of the developing structure.<Genome-scale transcriptomic insights into early-stage fruit development in woodland strawberry Fragaria vesca by Chunying Kang and others>[Abstract: tissue-by-stage sampling]{ref}
For an illuminating comparison, imagine two fruits with the same average expression of a gene but different proportions of seed-bearing and fleshy tissues. Their whole-fruit averages can agree even when corresponding tissue types differ. The relatively tractable <genome> and dissectible fruit make <Fragaria vesca> useful for testing such developmental questions.
Back to article page
