Plant & Animal Genomes XIII Conference

January 15-19, 2005
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

MaizeGDB In A Nutshell: A Tour Of The Maize Community Database

Trent E. Seigfried¹ , Carolyn J. Lawrence² , Darwin Campbell¹ , Mary Polacco⁵ , Qunfeng Dong⁴ , Volker Brendel³

¹  USDA/ARS 526 Science II Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 USA

²  Department of Genetics, Developmental, and Cellular Biology 526 Science II Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 USA

³  Department of Genetics, Developmental, and Cellular Biology and Department of Statistics 2112 Molecular Biology Building Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 USA

⁴  Department of Genetics, Developmental, and Cellular Biology 2156 Molecular Biology Building Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 USA

⁵  USDA/ARS Curtis Hall Room 203 University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65211 USA

MaizeGDB (Maize Genetics and Genomics Database) is the research database for the maize community. The site features a wealth of resources and data facilitating the scientific study of maize. Among the data sets included in MaizeGDB are sequences, including PlantGDB's EST and GSS contig assemblies; references; detailed genetic, physical, and cytogenetic maps; primers; and a wealth of other datatypes. MaizeGDB includes integrated tools for map comparisons, sequence similarity searches, and comparisons with and links to other databases, such as Gramene and NCBI. MaizeGDB provides web-based community curation tools that enable researchers to edit and annotate their own data and to enter new data into MaizeGDB directly. MaizeGDB also provides informatics support for maize community initiatives such as the annual Maize Genetics Conference and community-wide workshops, and maintains data for maize community research projects. MaizeGDB is funded by USDA/ARS and can be accessed online at http://www.maizegdb.org.