Washington, DC
October 11, 2007
The
U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has made 26 new awards
totaling $85.8 million during the tenth year of its
Plant Genome
Research Program (PGRP).
These awards--which cover two to five years and range from
$400,000 to $7.9 million--support research and tool development
to further knowledge of genome structure and function. They will
also increase understanding of gene function and interactions
between genomes and the environment in economically vital crop
plants such as corn, rice and cotton.
"Plant biologists continue to exploit genomics tools and
sequence resources in new and innovative ways," said James
Collins, NSF assistant director for biological sciences. "It's
exciting to see research involving biologists and
mathematicians, computer scientists and engineers, all working
to address major unanswered questions in plant biology. These
latest projects will also have a significant impact on how we
train the next generation of plant scientists to carry out
research at the cutting edge of the biological sciences."
The new awards--made to 45 institutions in 28 states--include
international groups of scientists from Asia, Australia and
Europe.
First-time recipients of PGRP awards include Auburn University,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, SUNY Stony Brook, University of
Alaska Fairbanks, University of Toledo, and University of
Virginia.
The wealth of genomics tools and sequence resources developed
over the past ten years of the PGRP have opened up exciting, new
comparative approaches in plant biology. PGRP researchers
continue to uncover gene networks that regulate plant
development and growth in concert with environmental signals,
such as temperature, light, disease and pests.
These projects include:
- Researchers at the University of
Alaska, Fairbanks are using poplar to develop population
genetics tools to identify genes involved in phenotypic
variation in bud set, a critical adaptive trait for cold
tolerance and growth rate. This project is supported in part by
the NSF Office of Polar Programs and includes collaborations
with scientists in Canada and Sweden.
- A project led by Michigan State University is using a
combination of computation and functional genomics resources to
learn more about low-temperature regulatory networks and factors
involved with freezing tolerance in tomato and potato.
- Washington State University is leading a project that uses
biochemical genomics to reveal components of biosynthesis
pathways necessary to produce novel fatty acids in oilseeds.
Plants are natural producers of non-saturated fatty acids.
- A project led by Alabama A&M University is working to identify
regulatory gene networks responsible for changes in gene
expression in response to nematode infection in cotton plants.
PGRP is also continuing to support the development of tools to
enable researchers to make breakthroughs in understanding the
structure and function of economically important plants -- from
the gene level to the whole plant.
Example projects include:
- A multidisciplinary team of
investigators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will
develop cutting-edge technology using cameras, robotics and
computational tools to enable high-throughput analysis of traits
in mutant or naturally varying plant populations.
- A project led by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is using
Arabidopsis and rice genomic resources to produce a plant
"interactome," a map of all protein-protein interactions. This
map will provide scientists with testable predictions of how
genes and the proteins they encode interact to carry out complex
functions within a plant cell.
The PGRP, which was established in 1998 as part of the
coordinated National Plant Genome Initiative by the Interagency
Working Group on Plant Genomes of the National Science and
Technology Council, has the long-term goal of advancing the
understanding of the structure and function of genomes of plants
of economic importance.
Source:
http://www.nsf.gov/bio/pubs/awards/pgr.htm
Plant Genome Comparative Sequencing Program:
Awards
Fiscal
Year 2007 Awards
Genome-Enabled Plant Research (GEPR)
Transferring Research From Model Systems(TRMS)
Tools and Resources for Plant Genome Research(TRPGR) |
|
Award # |
Principal Investigator |
Institution |
Title |
Total Award ($) |
Total Duration (Yrs) |
|
0605200 |
Bedinger, Patricia |
Colorado State University
University of Missouri-Columbia*
University of California-Davis*
Cornell University*
Ohio State University* |
Using Genomic Tools to
Identify Interspecific Reproductive Barriers in the
Tomato Clade |
$3,904,788 |
4 |
|
0701297 |
Birchler, James |
University of
Missouri-Columbia |
Maize Artificial
Chromosomes |
$1,902,766 |
5 |
|
0701919 |
Browse, John |
Washington State
University
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center*
Michigan State University*
SUNY Stony Brook*
Montana State University* |
Biochemical Genomics:
Quizzing the Chemical Factories of Oilseeds |
$4,574,645 |
4 |
|
0701757 |
Buerkle, C. Alex |
University of Wyoming |
Analytical Tools for
Studies of the Genomics of Isolation between Plant Taxa |
$399,432 |
3 |
|
0701731 |
Evans, Matthew |
Carnegie Institute of
Washington (CA)
South Dakota State University*
Oregon State University*
Iowa State University* |
Functional Genomics of
Maize Gametophytes |
$4,745,983 |
5 |
|
0701488 |
Folta, Kevin |
University of Florida
University of New Hampshire* |
Identification and
Functional Characterization of Novel Expressed
Transcripts in the Rosaceae |
$1,005,853 |
3 |
|
0701871 |
Freeling, Michael |
University of
California-Berkeley |
Computing Regulatory DNA
by Comparing Plant Genomes |
$1,965,052 |
5 |
|
0605659 |
Giovannoni, James |
Boyce Thompson Institute
for Plant Research
Colorado State University*
Cornell University* |
U.S. Contribution to the
International Solanaceae Genome Effort |
$1,800,000 |
2 |
|
0701405 |
Grotewold, Erich |
Ohio State University
University of Toledo* |
The Grass Regulome
Initiative: Integrating Control of Gene Expression and
Agronomic Traits Across the Grasses |
$2,479,632 |
3 |
|
0703470 |
Kantety, Ramesh |
Alabama A&M University
Auburn University*
J. Craig Venter Institute*
University of Oklahoma-Norman* |
Genomic Resources for the
Study of Cotton-Reniform Nematode Interactions |
$1,047,574 |
3 |
|
0703273 |
McCarty, Donald |
University of Florida
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory*
Iowa State University* |
Construction of
Comprehensive Sequence Indexed Transposon Resources for
Maize |
$3,703,558 |
4 |
|
0701745 |
Meyers, Blake |
University of Delaware
University of California-Los Angeles*
Ohio State University* |
Understanding the Rice
Epigenome: From Genes to Genomes |
$5,313,292 |
4 |
|
0701736 |
Nelson, Timothy |
Yale University
Boyce Thompson Institute*
Cornell University*
Iowa State University* |
Comparative Analysis of C3
and C4 Leaf Development in Rice, Sorghum and Maize
|
$5,475,678 |
4 |
|
0701911 |
Olson, Matthew |
University of Alaska
Fairbanks
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities* |
Population Genomics of
Cold Adaptation in Poplar |
$1,687,757 |
4 |
|
0702454 |
Pawlowski, Wojciech |
Cornell University |
Natural Variation in
Meiotic Recombination in Maize |
$404,686 |
2 |
|
0701382 |
Purugganan, Michael |
New York University
Cornell University*
Purdue University*
Washington University* |
The Evolutionary Genomics
of Rice Domestication |
$4,402,973 |
4 |
|
0649614 |
Quackenbush, John |
Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute |
Reconstruction and
Annotation of Transcribed Sequences in Plants |
$2,566,000 |
4 |
|
0701119 |
Salt, David |
Purdue University
Dartmouth University*
Texas A&M Research Foundation* |
Ionome to the Genome:
Mapping the Gene Networks Controlling Nutrient Content
in Rice Grain |
$5,323,284 |
4 |
|
0621702 |
Spalding, Edgar |
Univeristy of
Wisconsin-Madison |
Machine Vision-Based
Quantification of Plant Growth and Development |
$1,110,004 |
2 |
|
0703908 |
Stein, Lincoln |
Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory
Cornell University* |
Gramene: A Platform for
Comparative Plant Genomics |
$6,944,880 |
4 |
|
0701846 |
Sussman, Michael |
University of
Wisconsin-Madison |
An Interdisciplinary
Approach to Deciphering the Molecular Dialogue between
the Plasma Membrane and Cytoplasm of Medicago
truncatula |
$2,462,216 |
3 |
|
0701709 |
Thomashow, Michael |
Michigan State University
Oregon State University* |
Low Temperature
Transcriptional Networks |
$4,738,001 |
5 |
|
0703285 |
Udvardi, Michael |
Samuel Roberts Noble
Foundation |
Development of Genetic
Resources to Dissect Gene Regulatory Networks Governing
Nodule Development and Differentiation in Medicago
truncatula |
$3,831,732 |
4 |
|
0703905 |
Vidal, Marc |
Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies* |
A Plant Interactome
Network Map |
$7,971,396 |
4 |
|
0701880 |
Walbot, Virginia |
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley* |
Cell Fate Acquisition in
Maize |
$4,577,530 |
5 |
|
0701748 |
Westwood, James |
Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University
Pennsylvania State University*
University of California-Davis*
University of Virginia* |
The Parasitic Plant Genome
Project |
$1,528,815 |
3 |
|
National Science
Foundation
Plant Genome Research Program
Plant Genome Comparative
Sequencing Program (PGCSP) |
|
Award # |
Principal Investigator |
Institution |
Title |
Total Award ($) |
Total Duration (Years) |
|
0638566 |
Buckler, Edward |
Cornell University
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory* |
High Density Scoreable Markers for Maize
Trait Dissection |
$963,016 |
2 |
|
0638591 |
Conner, Jeffrey |
Michigan State University
Institute for Genomic Research* |
Comparative cDNA Sequencing in Radish
(Raphanus), a Crop, Weed, and Model System in Ecology
and Evolution |
$1,009,597 |
2 |
|
0638595 |
dePamphilis, Claude |
Pennsylvania State University
University of Florida*
University of Georgia*
Washington University* |
The Ancestral Angiosperm Genome Project |
$3,087,691 |
2 |
|
0638558 |
Devos, Katrien |
University of Georgia Research Foundation
Inc
Institute for Genomic Research*
University of California-Davis* |
Gaining Insight into the Organization and
Evolution of Genomes Through Wheat - Brachypodium - Rice
Comparative Analysis |
$1,521,112 |
2 |
|
0638525 |
Meyers, Blake |
University of Delaware |
Comparative Sequencing of Plant Small RNAs |
$1,034,253 |
2 |
|
0638502 |
Neale, David |
University of California-Davis |
Comparative Resequencing in the Pinaceae |
$505,122 |
1 |
|
0638820 |
Olsen, Kenneth |
Washington University
University of Arkansas*
University of Massachusetts Amherst* |
The Evolutionary Genomics of Invasive
Weedy Rice |
$1,121,523 |
2 |
|
0638536 |
Pires, J. Chris |
University of Missouri-Columbia
Institute for Genomic Research*
University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc* |
Toward Unraveling the Morphological
Plasticity and Genome Redundancy of Brassica Oleracea |
$1,544,477 |
2 |
|
0638418 |
Wendel, Jonathan |
Iowa State University
University of Arizona*
University of Georgia Research Foundation
Inc* |
Genome Evolution in Diploid and Polyploid
Cotton |
$1,543,966 |
2 |
|
0638541 |
Wing, Rod |
University of Arizona
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory*
Purdue University* |
Sequencing of Chromosome 3 Short Arms
From the AA, BB, CC, BBCC Genomes of Wild Relatives of
Rice for Comparative Functional and Evolutionary
Genomics |
$2,735,151 |
2 |
|
|
