BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- A comprehensive database of citrus genomic variations has been constructed, according to a recent research article published in the journal Horticulture Research.

  Citrus is one of the most important commercial fruit crops worldwide, said the article. With the vast genomic data available for citrus, genetic relationships and molecular markers can be assessed for the development of molecular breeding and genomic selection strategies for the fruit.

  The researchers from the Citrus Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Southwest University developed the citrus genomic variation database CitGVD which is an open-access resource centered on 1.49 billion high-quality genomic variations of 346 organisms.

  The CitGVD integrates closely related information on genomic variation annotations, related gene annotations and details regarding the organisms, incorporating a variety of unique and powerful built-in tools for data accession and in-depth analysis.

  All data in the CitGVD can be accessed and downloaded for free.

  The researchers hope the CitGVD will be a comprehensive web portal and bioinformatics platform for citrus-related studies and a model for analyzing genome-wide variations of a wide range of crop varieties.