NSF Award Abstract - #0321460| NSF Award Abstract - #0321460 |
AWSFL008-DS3 |
| NSF Org | DBI |
| Latest Amendment Date | July 23, 2004 |
| Award Number | 0321460 |
| Award Instrument | Cooperative Agreement |
| Program Manager |
Jane Silverthorne DBI DIV OF BIOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE BIO DIRECT FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES |
| Start Date | October 1, 2003 |
| Expires | September 30, 2006 (Estimated) |
| Expected Total Amount | $10886431 (Estimated) |
| Investigator |
Nevin D. Young neviny@umn.edu (Principal Investigator current) Bruce A. Roe (Co-Principal Investigator current) Christopher D. Town (Co-Principal Investigator current) Ernest F. Retzel (Co-Principal Investigator former) Dongjin Kim (Co-Principal Investigator former) |
| Sponsor |
U of Minnesota-Twin Cities 450 McNamara Alumni Center Minneapolis, MN 554552070 612/624-5599 |
| NSF Program | 1329 PLANT GENOME RESEARCH PROJECT |
| Field Application | |
| Program Reference Code | 9109,BIOT, |
With more than 20,000 species, legumes are one of the two most important crop families in the world. Among cultivated plants, legumes are unique in their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen through symbiosis with bacteria known as Rhizobia. Since they are not limited for nitrogen, legumes have remarkably high levels of protein, a property that is both biologically and agriculturally significant. Nearly 33% of all nutritional nitrogen comes from legumes, and legumes are the single most important source of nutritional protein throughout the developing world. Legumes also synthesize an impressive array of secondary compounds with anti-cancer and health promoting effects. Not surprisingly, legumes play a central role in nearly all cropping systems and are universally viewed as essential for secure and sustainable food production.Among legumes, Medicago (Medicago truncatula), a species closely related to alfalfa, is widely considered the preeminent model for genomic research. Medicago has a compact genome of approximately 470 million base pairs, simple Mendelian genetics, short generation time, relatively high transformation efficiency, and extensive collections of phenotypic mutants and naturally occurring ecotypes. Excellent cytogenetic research demonstrates that the Medicago genome is organized into separate gene-rich and gene-poor regions. Indeed, gene density in the gene-rich portions of the Medicago genome is nearly as high as in Arabidopsis. Thus, the Medicago genome is favorably organized for genome sequencing likely to capture nearly all of its gene-space.
To sequence the gene-space of Medicago, a group of U.S. laboratories will completely sequence the gene-rich regions of six of Medicago's eight chromosomes. This work will be closely coordinated with colleagues in the European Union, who will sequence the gene-space of the remaining two Medicago chromosomes. In the process, sequences likely to contain genes will be identified and this information will be integrated with existing genomic information about Medicago.
The most important beneficiaries of the Medicago genome sequence will be legume researchers - from genomicists to breeders - who will finally have a reference genome sequence representing most legume-specific properties. With the Medicago sequence in hand, detailed studies of legume-specific gene families, developmental processes, and biochemical pathways, gene cloning based on comparative genomics, discovery of pan-legume genetic markers - plus a genomic system ideally positioned for evolutionary comparison with Arabidopsis - will be available to researchers.
