Exploitation of Tomato as a Model for Comparative and Functional Genomics

茄科包括番茄、马铃薯、茄子和辣椒，是美国第三大最有价值的农作物家族。番茄是茄科遗传和分子研究的核心，部分原因是它的特点使其成为一个有吸引力的研究系统。这些特征包括2N条染色体数目，中等大小的基因组(约950Mb)，对近亲交配的耐受性，对遗传转化的适应性，以及现有的具有良好特征的遗传资源集合。在项目过程中，将构建番茄核基因组的物理图谱。这一物理图谱将包括重叠的、有序的细菌人工染色体(BAC)。物理图谱将使用一组共同的基因叠加到番茄遗传图谱上。物理和遗传图谱将一起提供番茄染色体的详细路线图，使科学家能够更容易地识别新的基因功能。它们还将允许将番茄基因组的组织与其他相关物种(例如矮牵牛、辣椒、马铃薯和茄子)以及研究得很好的模式植物拟南芥的组织进行比较。基因沉默方法将被用来研究抗病和果实发育，这是植物生物学的两个方面，番茄是一个模式系统。最后，将开发一系列遗传和基因组资源，并将其传播给其他研究人员。这些将包括：1)非冗余番茄Unigene集合；2)番茄cDNA微阵列；3)DNA、来自作图群体的相关数据集和种子；4)一组有序的番茄BAC克隆；以及5)新的茄科BAC文库。为了便于在比较基因组的背景下分发番茄及其近缘物种的基因组信息，我们将继续开发茄科基因组网络数据库。这是一个基因组学数据库，它将有关茄科植物之间的序列、遗传和物理图谱的信息联系在一起，并将这些信息与拟南芥基因组序列联系在一起。

The Solanaceae, which includes tomato, potato, eggplant and pepper, comprises the third most valuable crop family in the U.S. Tomato is the centerpiece for genetic and molecular research for the Solanaceae, due in part to features that make it an attractive research system. These features include 2N chromosome number, a modest-sized genome (about 950 Mb), tolerance of inbreeding, amenability to genetic transformation, and an existing collection of well-characterized genetic resources. During the course of the project, a physical map will be constructed for the nuclear genome of tomato. This physical map will comprise overlapping, ordered Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes (BACs). The physical map will be superimposed onto the tomato genetic map using a common set of genes. Together, the physical and genetic maps will provide a detailed road map of tomato chromosomes and allow scientists to more easily identify new gene functions. They will also allow comparison of the organization of the tomato genome with that of other related species (e.g. petunia, pepper, potato and eggplant) and the well-studied model plant Arabidopsis. Gene silencing approaches will be employed to study disease resistance and fruit development, two aspects of plant biology for which tomato is a model system. Finally, a series of genetic and genomic resources will be developed and disseminated to other researchers. These will include: 1) a non-redundant tomato unigene set; 2) tomato cDNA microarrays; 3) DNA, associated data sets from mapping populations, and seeds; 4) a set of ordered tomato BAC clones; and 5) new solanaceous BAC libraries. To facilitate distribution of genomic information for tomato and related species in a comparative genomic context, we will continue development of the Solanaceae Genome Network database. This is a genomics database that ties together information about sequence, genetic and physical maps among solanaceous species, and anchors this information against the Arabidopsis genome sequence.