Plant & Animal Genomes XIV Conference

January 14-18, 2006
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium

Kellye Eversole¹ , Rudi Appels² , Catherine Feuillet³ , Bikram S Gill⁴

¹  International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, Eversole Associates, 5207 Wyoming Road, Bethesda, MD 20816, USA

²  Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Murdoch University, Murdoch, W A 6150, AUSTRALIA

³  UMR INRA-UBP, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Domaine de Crouelle, 234 Avenue du Brézet, 63039 Clermont-Ferrand Cedex 2, FRANCE

⁴  Wheat Genetics Resource Center, Kansas State University, 4711 Throckmorton Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA

The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) is an international academic, governmental, and industry collaboration focused on building the foundation for advancing agricultural research for wheat production and utilization by obtaining, and ensuring the public availability of, the complete genome sequence of bread wheat. In November 2003, a Wheat genome sequencing workshop, focused on the rationale and feasibility of sequencing the wheat genome, was held in Washington, DC (Genetics 2004, 168:1087-1096). In San Diego, in January 2005, the IGROW leadership convened an informal meeting of scientists to discuss the status of research, strategies for obtaining funding, and the potential mission and goals of an international wheat genome sequencing project. During this past year, the IWGSC (http://www.wheatgenome.org) was created to facilitate and coordinate the international efforts to sequence the bread wheat genome. The goal of the IWGSC is to accelerate wheat improvement by developing DNA-based tools and products through the creation of a physical map anchored to the genetic map and ultimately by obtaining a complete sequence of the bread wheat genome. Membership is open to any individual or organization that supports the goals and objectives of the IWGSC. In May 2005, the IWGSC met formally for the first time at the annual ITMI meeting (http://wheat.pw.usda.gov/ITMI/) and discussed the resources that needed to be developed in the short-term and mid-term. The IWGSC history, organizational structure, mission, activities during the past year, and proposed activities for 2006 will be presented.