Plant & Animal Genomes XIII Conference

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

The Medicago truncatula Genome Initiative: A Progress Report

Chris D. Town¹ , Bruce A. Roe² , Nevin D. Young³

¹  The Institute for Genomic Research, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville MD 20850, USA.

²  Advanced Center for Genome Technology, University of Oklahoma, Norman OK 73019,USA.

³  Departments of Plant Biology and Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul MN 55108, USA.

The Medicago truncatula Genome Initiative aims to complete the sequencing of the euchromatic, gene-rich portion of the M.truncatula genome by the end of 2006. The international consortium consists of groups from the USA (University of Minnesota, Oklahoma University and The Institute for Genomic Research) and the EU (INRA-Toulouse with Genoscope and the John Innes Centre with the Sanger Centre). Chromosomes 1, 4, 6 and 8 will be sequenced by OU, 2 and 7 by TIGR, 3 by JIC/Sanger and 5 by INRA/Genoscope. Persuasive evidence based on fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) of sequenced BACs to pachytene chromosomes demonstrates that the M. truncatula genome is organized into pericentromeric, repeat-rich heterochromatin and separate gene-rich euchromatic chromosome arms. Thus, the overwhelming majority of the gene space, estimated to be 200-250 Mb, can be sequenced in an efficient manner using a BAC-based approach. As of September, 2004 there was approximately 64 Mb of finished sequence and 54 Mb of “sequencing in progress” in GenBank. During this sequencing phase of the project, automated bioinformatics pipelines are being used to provide working annotation of the sequence (see www.medicago.org for details and links). This presentation will describe the sequencing strategy and the current status of the project and the availability of and access to various data sets. Features of the M. truncatula genome organization and gene content that have been revealed to date will be discussed.
The US effort is supported by the National Science Foundation, and previous sequencing at OU was supported by the Noble Foundation.