Plant, Animal & Microbe Genomes X Conference

January 12-16, 2002
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Poster: Genome Sequencing & ESTs
            

THE PINUS TAEDA L. (LOBLOLLY PINE)EST SEQUENCING PROJECT

¹ Forest Biotechnology Group, Department of Forestry, North Carolina State University, Box 7247, Raleigh, NC 27695-7247

² Institute of Paper Science and Technology, 500 10th St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318

³ Academic Computing and Bioinformatics, AHC, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0312

Gene discovery by single-pass sequencing of cDNA clones is a productive approach to developing the genomics resource base necessary for performing systematic genetic research in species that are currently intractable to full-scale genomic sequencing. In the fall of 1999, a multi-institutional project, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, was initiated to apply genomic methods to study the molecular basis of wood formation in Pinus taeda L. (loblolly pine). A key objective of this project is to build a pine genomic resource base by sequencing 75,000 ESTs from differentiating xylem during rapid growth and under different environmental stresses. To date, over 60,000 ESTs have been sequenced, with 80% generating useful ESTs. Five differentiating xylem partial cDNA libraries (normal wood, compression wood, side wood, planings wood, late wood) have been deeply sequenced (~12,000 ESTs/library), and the resulting EST data sets have been assembled and contigged (using phredphrap) from this EST data. All data sets and clones are freely available to the worldwide research community through the following URL: http://www.cbc.umn.edu/ResearchProjects/Pine/index.html. A detailed overview of the EST results obtained thus far, as well as a preliminary analysis, will be presented.