Plant & Animal Genomes XIV Conference

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

Lettuce Genomics And Exploitation Of Information Generated By The Compositae Genome Project

David G Caldwell¹ , María José Truco¹ , Alex Kozik¹ , Leah K McHale¹ , Dean O Lavelle¹ , Smitha S Mathrakott¹ , Oswaldo E Ochoa¹ , Fallon Chen¹ , Allen Van Deynze² , Richard W Michelmore¹

¹  University of California, UC Davis Genome Center, 4302 GBSF, 451 E. Health Sciences Drive, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

²  University of California, Seed Biotechnology Center, Plant Reproductive Biology, Rm 1103, Extension Center Drive, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

The initial phase of the Compositae Genome Project (CGP; http://compgenomics.ucdavis.edu) generated over 68,000 ESTs for lettuce (Lactuca sativa and L. serriola) and 67,000 ESTs for sunflower (Helianthus annuus, H. paradoxus, H. argophyllus) resulting in ~19,000 and ~18,000 unigenes respectively. Tools for the graphical visualization of the data were developed (http://cgpdb.ucdavis.edu) and the lettuce sequence information was subsequently used for high-throughput candidate gene mapping on our core mapping population (L. sativa cv. Salinas x wild L. serriola, RIL F_7:8). Candidate genes at loci for important agricultural traits or phenotypes of interest, particularly disease resistance, are being investigated further. Phase two of the CGP is establishing an expanded set of ESTs from five different Lactuca species (L. sativa, L. serriola, L. saligna, L. virosa and L. perennis) as well as twelve other Compositae species from five different genera. This expanded set of information from all species will result in over 500,000 ESTs providing critical data for comparative genomics studies. The additional lettuce data will be used for identifying and studying genes responsible for domestication, expanding the L. sativa x L. serriola map and providing the resources for designing a Lettuce Affymetrix Gene Chip for robust genotyping and expression analysis.