ARS | Publication request: COTTON BIOINFORMATICS: DATABASES, INFORMATION PROCESSING, AND APPLIED RESEARCH

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 11, 2002
Publication Date: April 11, 2002
Citation: Payton, P.R. 2002. Cotton bioinformatics: databases, information processing, and applied research [abstract]. Genomes, Genes, and GMO's: An Education and Outreach Workshop.

Technical Abstract: The rapid development of genomic technologies coupled with the availability of large collections of cloned genes has begun to yield significant returns for plant research. The development of extensive clone libraries from many plants, including cotton, and the complete sequencing of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome allow for many new insights into areas such as genome architecture, evolutionary relationships, and gene function. The available sequence information is substantial and coupled with information on gene expression and protein function results in a substantial amount of data. The storage and organization of this data is a monumental task. Furthermore, the ability to view and search large databases in a variety of ways is critical in parsing out novel information on plant function. While Arabidopsis thaliana has emerged as the model system for analysis and elucidation of numerous plant processes, certain aspects of plant growth and development, e.g. fiber development, are better studied in other systems. Therefore, it is important to consider the extent to which the available genomic resources can be exploited for functional and structural genomic analysis in cotton. The current state of cotton genomics databases and available genetic information will be presented here, as well as future directions in genomics research with an emphasis on elucidating key pathways for stress tolerance and yield improvement.