The National Plant Genome Initiative: Objectives for 2003-2008

国家植物基因组计划于1998财政年度启动，这是一个长期项目，旨在探索植物基因组的结构和功能。其目标是确保植物的有用特性可以被理解，改进，并最终利用以满足国家需求，包括农业，营养，能源，环境和健康。制定了一项五年计划来指导该计划的启动。迄今为止，该计划已取得重大进展，NPGI必须开始制定下一阶段的目标。 为了向这一规划进程提供投入，国家研究理事会将成立一个研究小组，由基因组学、植物生物学、信息学和其他相关科学领域的专家组成。 该研究小组将组织一个为期3天的研讨会，以：（1）确定可能在未来五年内回答的关键科学问题;（2）考虑该倡议中其他测序，功能基因组学和蛋白质组学的相对优先事项;（3）检查使用现有或新兴生物信息学和生物工具的潜力;以及（4）描述成功解决研讨会与会者确定的关键科学问题所需的工具、基础设施和人力资源。研讨会结束后，研究小组将撰写一份报告，总结其对关键科学方向的评估，并为植物基因组计划提出优先考虑的问题，未来五年该报告将在网上公布。 报告将于2002年8月底提交。

The National Plant Genome Initiative was launched in FY1998 as a long-term project to explore the structure and function of plant genomes. Its goals are to ensure that useful properties of plants can be understood, improved, and ultimately harnessed to address national needs, including agriculture, nutrition, energy, environment, and health. A five-year plan was developed to guide the program during its inauguration.The program has made significant progress to date, and the NPGI must begin to develop objectives for its next phase. To provide input to this planning process, the National Research Council will form a study group consisting of experts in genomics, plant biology, informatics, and other relevant fields of science. The study group will organize a 3 day workshop to: (1) identify key scientific questions that might be answered in the next five years; (2) consider the relative priorities of additional sequencing, functional genomics and proteomics within the initiative; (3) examine the potential to use bioinformatics and biological tools that are available or emerging, and; (4) describe the tools, infrastructure, and human resources that are needed to successfully address key scientific questions identified by the workshop participants.Following the workshop, the study group will write a report summarizing its assessment of the key scientific directions and recommending priorities for the plant genome initiative for the next five years. The report will be published and made available on the web. The report will be delivered by the end of August 2002.