Maize Transposable Elements: Discovery, Description and Functional Characterization

PI: Susan R. Wessler（加州大学河滨分校）合作伙伴：Jeffrey L. Bennetzen（佐治亚大学），R. Kelly Dawe（佐治亚大学），Ning Jiang（密歇根州立大学），Phillip SanMiguel（普渡大学）Byron Freeman (University of Georgia, Georgia Museum of Natural History)：转座因子（TE）是高等真核生物基因组中最丰富的组成部分，而玉米基因组被认为具有最具活力的TE成分。因此，它是了解TEs如何促进基因和基因组进化的首选生物体。除了鉴定玉米中的所有te外，该项目还将特别关注诸如Pack-MULEs和helitron等te的特征，这些te通常捕获和扩增基因片段，从而混淆基因注释。该项目将生成一个全面和严格注释的TE数据库，这将极大地帮助所有未来的玉米基因组注释。计算分析将用于鉴定候选活性te，其移动性将使用转座子展示技术与广泛的玉米基因组dna相结合进行验证。该项目将首次将te的分析扩展到中心粒，这是一个在其他测序基因组中未完成和/或未注释的区域。该项目的科学目标和对玉米的熟悉为学生培训和研究界与广大公众之间的联系提供了很好的机会。该项目将超过10%的资源投入到这一任务中，其核心内容是开发基于网络和旅行的博物馆展览，描述玉米作为一种作物的历史，作为基因组研究的模式生物，以及作为许多美洲原住民文化的关键组成部分。为此目的，与佐治亚大学自然历史博物馆、史密森学会和美国植物园建立了合作关系。获取项目成果该项目的所有信息将免费提供给玉米基因组测序项目和MaizeGDB （http://www.maizegdb.org/）等长期存储库。生成的软件和其他工具将在项目网站上免费提供（可通过http://www.plantbio.uga.edu/wesslerlab/访问）。

PI: Susan R. Wessler (University of California - Riverside)CoPIs: Jeffrey L. Bennetzen (University of Georgia), R. Kelly Dawe (University of Georgia), Ning Jiang (Michigan State University), Phillip SanMiguel (Purdue University)Collaborator: Byron Freeman (University of Georgia, Georgia Museum of Natural History)Transposable elements (TEs) are the most abundant component of all characterized genomes of higher eukaryotes and the genome of maize is recognized as having the most dynamic TE component. As such, it is the organism of choice for understanding how TEs contribute to gene and genome evolution. In addition to identifying all TEs in maize, this project will pay particular attention to the characterization of TEs such as Pack-MULEs and Helitrons that routinely capture and amplify gene fragments and thereby confound gene annotation. This project will generate a comprehensive and rigorously annotated TE database that will greatly assist all future maize genome annotations. Computational analysis will serve to identify candidate active TEs whose mobility will be validated using the transposon display technique in conjunction with a wide spectrum of maize genomic DNAs. This project will, for the first time, extend the analysis of TEs to the pericentromere, a region that in other sequenced genomes has been unfinished and/or unannotated. The scientific goals of this project and the familiarity of maize provide outstanding opportunities for student training and for connections between the research community and the broader public. This project dedicates over 10% of its resources to this mission with the centerpiece being the development of web-based and traveling museum exhibits that describe the history of maize as a crop, as a model organism for genome research, and as a key component of many Native American cultures. To this end, collaborations have been established with the University of Georgia Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Botanic Garden. Access to Project OutcomesAll information from this project will be made freely available to the Maize Genome Sequencing Project and to long-term repositories such as MaizeGDB (http://www.maizegdb.org/). Software and other tools generated will be freely available at the project website (accessible via http://www.plantbio.uga.edu/wesslerlab/).