Rangitāne O Manawatū Become The First Indigenous Community To Name A Genome Sequence

29 August 2024

Scientists have sequenced the critically threatened native plant swamp maire, to support conservation efforts. The genome is the first to be given a Te Reo Māori name by mana whenua.

Swamp maire, Syzygium maire, is Aotearoa New Zealand’s only endemic Syzygium species, and is a culturally and ecologically important component of swamp forest habitats. Researchers from Rangitāne o Manawatū, Plant & Food Research and the Victoria University of Wellington have collected and sequenced the DNA of swamp maire in the Palmerston North region as part of a campaign to conserve and manage declining populations of the taonga.

The resulting genome sequence has been named ‘Ngā Hua o te Ia Whenua’, translating to ‘the fruits of the land’ and is believed to be the first genome to be given a Te Reo Māori name. The assembled chromosomes were named with the prefix IW for ‘ia whenua’ followed by the chromosome number.

The sequencing of the swamp maire genome is part of the research undertaken by Colan Balkwill, a PhD student at Victoria University of Wellington. In considering the importance of mana whenua when working with taonga species, Colan says “the gifting of the name by Rangitāne o Manawatū is, to the best of my knowledge, the first time a genome sequence has been gifted a name by an indigenous people. This really reflects the mutual respect established between all members of the research team.”

“Swamp maire populations are in decline, both from human actions, such as land use change, and through attack by pathogens such as myrtle rust. As kaitiaki, we have a duty to protect these taonga by using all available knowledge,” says Wayne Blissett of Rangitāne o Manawatū. “By working with Plant & Food Research, we are combining Mātauranga with modern techniques such as genome sequencing and cryopreservation.”

Swamp maire is culturally important to Māori, with a variety of traditional uses such as rongoā (medicine), perfume or air freshener, and for timber used in weapons such as maripa (shark toothed knife), wahaika (hand club) and kooii (spears for Pā defence). Swamp maire once grew across much of Te Ika-a-Māui (the North Island) and the top of Te Waipounamu (South Island) but is now limited to small areas surrounded primarily by pasture and is classified as critically threatened, the highest classification for extinction risk issued by the Department of Conservation.

The fragmentation of populations has led to gene loss and inbreeding, which reduces the species’ capability to adapt to new environmental pressures, such as warming climates and new disease incursions. Sequencing the genome of swamp maire provides knowledge of how the species may respond to these pressures and provides information to underpin conservation and restoration strategies.

“Genome sequencing a plant can tell us a lot about both its whakapapa and how we can protect it for future generations,” says Dr David Chagné from Plant & Food Research. “Swamp maire is an important taonga and this genetic knowledge will help scientists and iwi work together to build knowledge-based conservation and restoration strategies.”

The genome, described in the journal Tree Genetics & Genomes, is around 400 million bases long with 32,307 genes and organised into 11 chromosomes. The project had financial support from Rangitāne o Manawatū, the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge and Genomics Aotearoa.

Balkwill, C.G., Deslippe, J.R., Horton, P. et al. De-novo assembly of a reference genome for a critically threatened Aotearoa New Zealand tree species, Syzygium maire (Myrtaceae). Tree Genetics & Genomes 20, 24 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-024-01659-5

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