Microbial Genome Sequencing - EST Survey of Charophycean Green Algae

陆地植物(或胚芽植物)，包括开花植物、裸子植物、蕨类植物、苔藓及其近亲，几乎对人类生活的方方面面都至关重要。它们提供我们吃的食物，吸收二氧化碳，将氧气排放到空气中，提供木材和纤维，是大多数煤炭的原始来源。这个项目将通过研究陆地植物最接近的近亲的基因组来探索陆地植物的基本、共同的特性。轮生绿藻是结构简单的生物体，与植物有着相对较近的祖先，因此了解这些生物有助于了解植物祖先的特性。将对七种轮藻进行EST分析，目标是从这七种生物中的每一种获得大约10,000个单独的EST序列。EST分析涉及对从逆转录信使RNA组成的文库中随机选择的克隆进行测序，是对全基因组测序的补充。除了EST测序外，该项目还将对相当一部分克隆进行完整测序，对这些序列进行注释和分析，以确定它们对陆地植物进化的潜在意义，并将进行初步研究，如基因组大小估计，这将为未来的基因组研究提供所需的背景信息。该项目将极大地扩展陆地植物最接近的近亲的基因序列数据库。这将使人们更好地了解陆地植物及其近亲的基本特性。此外，它还将提供对寻求控制和操纵植物特性的更多应用研究至关重要的比较数据，例如控制植物发育和环境反应的信号转导，木质化和次生产物化学等关键生物化学，以及作物产量和环境耐受性。这项工作将与正在进行的了解植物和微生物基因组以及生命树结构的努力相协调，并将是对这些努力的补充，并将导致新模型系统的开发。它将为至少一名博士后助理和几名本科生提供培训。

Land plants (or embryophytes), which include flowering plants, gymnosperms, ferns, mosses, and their relatives, are vital to almost every aspect of human life. They provide the food that we eat, absorb CO2, put oxygen in the air, provide wood, fiber, and were the original source of most coal. This project will explore the fundamental, shared properties of land plants by studying the genomes of the closest living relatives of land plants. The charophyte green algae are structurally simple organisms that share relatively recent ancestry with plants, and consequently understanding these organisms can help understand the properties of the ancestors of plants. Seven charophytes will be studied by EST analysis, with a goal of obtaining roughly 10,000 individual EST sequences from each of these seven organisms. EST analysis involves sequencing randomly-selected clones from a library made of reverse-transcribed messenger RNA, and is complementary to complete-genome sequencing. In addition to EST sequencing, the project will fully sequence a substantial fraction of the clones, will annotate and analyze the sequences for their potential significance to the evolution of land plants, and will perform preliminary studies such as genome size estimation that will provide background information needed for future genomic study.This project will greatly expand the database of gene sequences available from the closest living relatives of land plants. This will lead to an improved understanding of the fundamental properties of land plants and their relatives. In addition, it will provide comparative data that are essential for more applied studies that seek to control and manipulate plant properties such as signal transduction - which controls plant development and environmental responses - key biochemistries such as lignification and secondary-products chemistry, and crop yield and environmental tolerance. The work will be coordinate with, and will complement, ongoing efforts to understand plant and microbial genomes, and the structure of the tree of life, and will lead toward the development of novel model systems. It will provide training for at least one postdoctoral associate and several undergraduates.