Systematic Transposon Mutagenesis of the Maize Gene Space

玉米基因组可能包含50,000到100,000个基因，聚集在低甲基化的基因富集区。我们已经开发了一种纯化这些区域的新方法，并将探索其在鉴定基因功能方面的应用。这将通过对基因组中化学上与基因贫乏区域不同的富含基因的部分进行采样，然后将它们显示在微阵列(DNA芯片)上来实现。然后，将使用携带转座元件(跳跃基因)的大量玉米植株中突变基因对应的DNA表示来查询这些微阵列。我们之前已经在植物基因组研究计划的资助下开发了一个这样的群体(玉米定向突变群体)。通过使用计算方法，我们将结合来自两个不同来源的数据来创建玉米基因功能指数，由每个突变基因对应的玉米种子表示。我们预计将有数千个条目进入这一索引，使玉米遗传学家能够系统地确定已索引基因的功能。

The maize genome probably contains between 50,000 and 100,000 genes clustered in hypomethylated gene rich regions. We have developed a new method for purifying these regions, and we will explore its use in identifying gene function. This will be accomplished by sampling gene-rich portions of the genome that are chemically distinct from the gene poor regions, and then displaying them on microarrays (DNA chips). These microarrays will then be queried using representations of the DNA corresponding to mutated genes from a large population of maize plants that carries transposable elements (jumping genes). We have previously developed one such population (the Maize Targeted Mutagenesis population) with prior funding from the Plant Genome Research Program. By using computational methods, we will combine the data from the two different resources to create an index of maize gene function, represented by maize seed corresponding to each mutated gene. We anticipate making thousands of entries into this index, allowing maize geneticists to systematically determine the functions of indexed genes.