Microbial Genome Sequencing - EST Survey of Charophycean Green Algae

陆地植物（或胚植物），包括开花植物、裸子植物、蕨类植物、苔藓植物及其近缘植物，对人类生活的几乎每个方面都至关重要。 它们提供我们吃的食物，吸收二氧化碳，向空气中提供氧气，提供木材，纤维，并且是大多数煤炭的原始来源。 该项目将通过研究陆生植物的近亲的基因组来探索陆生植物的基本的、共有的特性。 轮藻绿色藻类是结构简单的生物体，与植物共享相对较近的祖先，因此了解这些生物体有助于了解植物祖先的特性。 将通过EST分析研究七种轮藻，目标是从这七种生物中的每一种获得大约10，000个个体EST序列。 EST分析涉及从由反转录信使RNA组成的文库中随机选择克隆进行测序，并且与完整基因组测序互补。 除了EST测序外，该项目还将对相当一部分克隆进行完全测序，将注释和分析这些序列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，为未来的基因组研究提供所需的背景信息。该项目将大大扩大陆地最近的亲属的基因序列数据库植物 这将导致对陆地植物及其亲属的基本特性的更好理解。 此外，它还将提供比较数据，这些数据对于寻求控制和操纵植物特性的应用研究至关重要，例如控制植物发育和环境反应的信号转导，关键生物化学，如木质化和次级产品化学，以及作物产量和环境耐受性。这项工作将与正在进行的理解植物和微生物基因组以及生命树结构的努力相协调，并将补充这些努力，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.