The Floral Genome Project

花结构的变化具有重要的进化和经济意义，影响着各种植物过程，如授粉和基因流动，以及果实生产和种子传播。然而，尽管花在植物繁殖和农业中的核心作用，关于花的起源和多样化的问题仍然是植物生物学的基本问题。近年来，植物发育遗传学和基因组学的研究已经确定了几十个基因在拟南芥和其他模式生物的花发育中具有特定的作用。尽管如此，许多（如果不是大多数的话）具有关键作用的基因仍未被发现，这主要是因为功能冗余。由于大多数经济上重要的物种与模式植物物种没有密切的关系，因此需要在现有基因组计划的基础上建立新的方法，并将知识转移到非模式生物。花基因组计划将研究花的遗传结构的起源、保存和多样化，并为植物进化功能基因组学开发概念性和实际性的工具。根据最近的系统发育研究，选择了一组植物“范例”，包括发现大多数花卉多样性的基生被子植物群，以及许多作物物种发生的关键植物谱系。花基因组计划将产生大型EST数据集，捕获每个物种在早期花发育过程中表达的数千个基因序列。新的采样方法将用于提高获得稀有转录本和从每个物种获得可比基因组的机会。完成每个物种多达300个独特基因的测序将允许研究花中表达的关键基因和基因家族的进化，并测试关于花起源的主要假设。花卉基因组计划将使用微阵列分析和高通量原位杂交的新方法相结合，检查每个物种中检测到的独特基因的基因表达位点和时间。每个物种中数百个基因的表达模式将被评估，并在发育中的花的三维虚拟重建中进行总结。该项目将产生第一个不同被子植物中大量基因表达模式的比较数据集。这些实验将产生一个巨大的基因序列数据集及其在不同物种中的表达，并将需要新的信息工具来进行基因历史、基因功能和分子进化的比较分析。信息学方面的工作将包括开发用于改进基因家族系统发育分析的软件和自动化数据管道，使研究人员能够以一种探索性的方式有效地从痕迹转向树木。将建立一个系统发育数据库，与基于网络的灵活查询工具相结合，作为公共资源，将来自系统发育框架中表达基因研究的序列信息联系起来。该数据库将提供有关拟南芥、水稻和玉米的基因组和功能信息的注释链接，以及番茄、玉米和许多其他重要作物物种的表达基因研究。花基因组计划将为产生关于植物中共同基因功能的假设和不同物种之间潜在变异来源提供关键资源。

Variations in floral architecture are of major evolutionary and economic importance, impacting various plant processes such as pollination and gene flow, as well as fruit production and seed dispersal. However, despite the central role of flowers in plant reproduction and agriculture, questions about the origin and diversification of the flower remain fundamental problems in plant biology. Recent studies in plant developmental genetics and genomics have identified dozens of genes with specific roles in flower development in Arabidopsis and other model organisms. Still, many (if not most) genes with critical roles remain undiscovered, largely because of functional redundancy. Because most economically important species are not closely related to model plant species, novel approaches are needed to build upon existing genome projects and transfer knowledge to nonmodel organisms. THE FLORAL GENOME PROJECT will investigate the origin, conservation, and diversification of the genetic architecture of the flower, and develop conceptual and real tools for evolutionary functional genomics in plants. A set of plant 'exemplars' was selected, based on recent phylogenetic studies, to include the basal angiosperm groups where most flower diversity is found, plus key eudicot lineages where many crop species occur. THE FLORAL GENOME PROJECT will generate large EST datasets , capturing thousands of sequences of genes expressed during early flower development in each species. New sampling approaches will be used to improve the chance of obtaining rare transcripts and of obtaining comparable gene sets from each species. Finished sequencing for up to 300 unique genes per species will allow study of the evolution of key genes and gene families expressed in flowers, and test leading hypotheses about the origin of the flower THE FLORAL GENOME PROJECT will examine the site and timing of gene expression for the unique genes detected in each species using a combination of microarray analysis and new methods of high throughput in situ hybridization. Expression patterns will be evaluated for hundreds of genes in each species, and summarized in 3-D virtual reconstructions of developing flowers. This project would generate the first comparative data set of expression patterns for a large number of genes across diverse angiosperms. These experiments will generate an enormous dataset of gene sequences and their expression in different species, and will require new informatic tools for the comparative analysis of gene history, gene function, and molecular evolution. Informatics efforts will include the generation of software for improved phylogenetic analysis of gene families and an automated data pipeline to enable researchers to move efficiently from traces to trees in an exploratory fashion. A phylogenetic database, integrated with web-based tools for flexible inquiry, will be created as a public resource to relate sequence information from expressed gene studies in a phylogenetic framework. This database will provide annotated links to genomic and functional information in Arabidopsis, rice, and maize, and to expressed gene studies in tomato, maize, and many other important crop species. THE FLORAL GENOME PROJECT will provide a key resource for generating hypotheses about common gene functions in plants and the potential sources of variation among diverse species.