Informatics Needs of Plant Molecular Biology

Abstract

One ultimate object of crop plant bioinformatics is to accelerate technology transfer to plant breeders who wish to transfer traits inter- or intra-species rapidly using genetic engineering (1). Public research initiatives in the US and international arenas have targeted crop plants for high-resolution genetic and physical mapping (NSF Plant Genome Projects; International Arabidopsis Sequencing Project; Rice Genome Initiative; Table 1). Among these are included cotton, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, tomato and the Triticeae. Model species, equipped with low DNA nuclei (2), are the focus of complete genome sequencing efforts. The genomic sequence for Arabidopsis is anticipated before the year 2004. An international plan to sequence the entire genome of the monocot rice is under way; Medicago trunculata is being explored as a model legume species. For species where a complete genome sequence is not considered practical, sequencing efforts are directed towards random cDNA and gene-enriched genomic sequencing strategies. Dissemination of the data has been and will be largely electronic and provided to the community prior to any journal publication.