Sequencing Microbial Genomes
In Fiscal Year 2000, CSREES first offered
a Microbial Genomics Program as part of the
Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food
Systems. The Program made four awards totaling
$5 million.
The Microbes
Interagency Working Group coordinates
U.S. government efforts to promote scientific
studies of microorganisms.
The Microbe
Project was established to:
- Identify science-based priorities for
a national, coordinated effort in microbial
science, taking advantage of recent advances
in genomics.
- Plan for a collaborative interagency
approach to address these priorities.
One of the Microbe Project's goals is to
develop a coordinated national effort to
sequence microbial genomes of broad agricultural
and biological importance. It is expected
that the resulting information, data, research
tools, and biological materials can be made
readily and openly available to the scientific
community at large.
In Fiscal Year 2001, the National Science
Foundation (NSF) joined CSREES to offer the
Interagency Microbial Genome Sequencing Program.
Together, CSREES and NSF made 17 awards with
a budget of almost $10 million. In FY 2002,
the two agencies made 12 awards totaling
more than $10 million. In FY 2003,
NSF and CSREES together made more than 30
awards totaling more than $20 million. CSREES'
FY 2003 awards under this program focused
on viral, bacterial, and fungal microorganisms
of importance in animal and plant systems. For
FY 2004, the scope of the Program was expanded
to include projects to sequence agriculturally
important nematodes.
The Program has stimulated national and
international collaboration on genomics projects.
Such collaborations have involved universities
working with federal agencies (for example,
USDA's Agricultural Research Service and
the U.S. Department of Energy), as well as
U.S. institutions working with institutions
in other countries (for example, the Welcome
Trust Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom).
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