Project Number: 1907-21000-030-02
Project Type: Nonfunded Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 01, 2004
End Date: Aug 31, 2008

Objective:
The objective of this project is to study gene colinearity and the movement of orthologous segments between rice chromosome 1 and the orthologous segments of the maize and sorghum genomes. The specific aims of this project follow. (1) Develop BAC based comparative maps of maize and sorghum to rice chromosome 1. (2) Determine the three-way level of gene synteny and colinearity between rice, maize and sorghum for analysis of chromosome evolution within the cereals. (3) Train one summer intern and develop a pilot curriculum for high school students on "Colinearity of Genes in Cereal Genomes" in order to increase the exposure of students to plant biology.

Approach:
The project will build a rough map of shared segments between rice, sorghum and maize using existing public data. The project will develop mapping reagents in conjunction with other researchers to anchor maize and sorghum segments to their respective genetic maps. Once the shared segments have been identified gaps will be closed in the comparative maps by selecting candidate rice genes to use as additional anchor points and map them to orthologous positions in the sorghum and maize genetic and physical maps. The rice genes will be sampled from Sorghum and Maize by hybridization, PCR amplification and direct sequencing of BACs. The final product will be a high-resolution comparative map of rice 1 with the corresponding regions of sorghum and maize.