diff --git a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecord.java b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecord.java
index 4927a6c568..9676448125 100644
--- a/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecord.java
+++ b/src/main/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecord.java
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ public class SAMSequenceRecord extends AbstractSAMHeaderRecord implements Clonea
     public static final String ASSEMBLY_TAG = "AS";
     public static final String URI_TAG = "UR";
     public static final String SPECIES_TAG = "SP";
+    public static final String DESCRIPTION_TAG = "DS";
 
     /** If one sequence has this length, and another sequence had a different length, isSameSequence will
      * not complain that they are different sequences. */
@@ -123,6 +124,9 @@ private void setSequenceName(final String name) {
     public String getMd5() { return (String) getAttribute(MD5_TAG); }
     public void setMd5(final String value) { setAttribute(MD5_TAG, value); }
 
+    public String getDescription() { return getAttribute(DESCRIPTION_TAG);}
+    public void setDescription(final String value) { setAttribute(DESCRIPTION_TAG, value);}
+
     /**
      * @return Index of this record in the sequence dictionary it lives in. 
      */
diff --git a/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecordTest.java b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecordTest.java
index 89e6121d27..01d77d42fa 100644
--- a/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecordTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/htsjdk/samtools/SAMSequenceRecordTest.java
@@ -83,4 +83,13 @@ public void testIsSameSequence(final SAMSequenceRecord rec1 , final SAMSequenceR
             Assert.assertEquals(rec1.isSameSequence(rec2), isSame);
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSetAndCheckDescription(){
+        final SAMSequenceRecord record = new SAMSequenceRecord("Test", 1000);
+        Assert.assertNull(record.getDescription());
+        final String description = "A description.";
+        record.setDescription(description);
+        Assert.assertEquals(record.getDescription(), description);
+    }
 }