With a good deal of pleasure, GNOBB members would like to congratulate heartily Professor Maqsudul Alam and his team of 28 scientists spanning over the globe for reporting the Draft genome sequence  of natural rubber, Hevea brasiliensis. They have reported their results inthe most recent issue of  BMC Genomics, 2013, 14:75. H. brasiliensis  is the major source of natural rubber which is a latex polymer with high elasticity, flexibility and resilience. The ambitious  project was masterminded by Professor Alam at the Manoa campus of the University of Hawaii. Major finances came from the  Malaysian Government.   The outstanding feat was achieved by the combined efforts of the scientists  affiliated to  a multitude of   research institutes at the USA, China, Denmark, South Africa and Center for Chemical Biology, Universiti Sains Malaysia. The assembly was found to span ~1.1 Gb of the estimated 2.15 Gb haploid genome. Overall, ~78% of the genome was identified as repetitive DNA. Gene prediction shows 68,955 gene models, of which 12.7% are unique to Hevea. Most of the key genes associated with rubber biosynthesis, rubberwood formation, disease resistance, and allergenicity have been identified.