'Post-genomic era sheds light on Goethe’s Palm origins (Chamaerops humilis L.)

The increasing development of the post-genomic era is becoming more and more reliable among the scientific research field. In particular, reference genomes are acquiring great importance for the conservation of biodiversity. In this regard, one of the aims of this study was to obtain a first draft genome of the non-model palm species Chamaerops humilis L. Pursuing this goal drove our research to better understanding the origin of the C. humilis specimen present in the Botanical Garden of Padua. This last aspect has been of great importance due to the great cultural and historical significance of this individual, better known as the Goethe’s palm. Our results provided us with a fragmented but quite complete genome; moreover, it helped us to understand that Goethe’s palm belongs to the western part of the C. humilis clusters found among the Mediterranean Basin. In particular, we relied on the information provided by ten microsatellites found across the genome. These have been merged and compared to the Giovino’s et al. 2023 dataset. From now on, we only have to wait to see what future studies will reserve for us.