Award Abstract #0520022
Arabidopsis 2010: Completing the Expression Catalog of the Arabidopsis Transcriptome by Quantitative Real Time PCR

NSF Org:	MCB Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
Initial Amendment Date:	August 4, 2005
Latest Amendment Date:	July 15, 2008
Award Number:	0520022
Award Instrument:	Continuing grant
Program Manager:	Jo Ann Wise MCB Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	September 1, 2005
Expires:	August 31, 2009 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$1865814
Investigator(s):	Christopher Town cdtown@jcvi.org (Principal Investigator) Yongli Xiao (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	J. Craig Venter Institute, Inc. 9704 Medical Center Drive Rockville, MD 20850 301/795-7591
NSF Program(s):	GENES AND GENOME SYSTEMS
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	BIOT, 9109, 1684, 1154
Program Element Code(s):	1112

ABSTRACT

Several large-scale projects have generated expression data for approximately 23,000 of the 27,000+ genes in the genome of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. However, the remaining 4,000+ genes are expressed at levels that are not reliably detected by the methods used to date and very little is known about the functions of this set of genes. The aim of this project is to develop a catalog of quantitative expression profiles under a variety of tissues and conditions for these 4,000+ Arabidopsis genes that either fall below levels detectable by the Affymetrix ATH1 array or are not represented on the array using high throughput quantitative real-time PCR, a technique that is much more sensitive than previous methods. By the conclusion of this project, the Arabidopsis and plant research communities will have gene expression profiles for essentially every gene in the Arabidopsis genome under a wide variety of experimental conditions, a major milestone in the goals of the 2010 project. Comparison of the expression patterns of these 4000+ low-expressed with the approximately 23,000 better characterized genes already available in the larger data sets will provide new insights into the biological functions of this set of poorly understood genes. In parallel, and on a smaller scale, the spatial expression profiles will be determined for ~ 1,000 of these genes using sensitive reporter gene constructs, thus providing further insight into their roles in the plant. A description of the project is available at http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/ath1/qpcr/; the gene expression data will be posted on that web site as it is processed, as well as at two community databases, TAIR (www.arabidopsis.org) and NASC (www.arabidopsis.info). Molecular and biological resources developed in this project will be distributed through the Arabidopsis Biological Stock Center (http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~plantbio/Facilities/abrc/abrchome.htm). During the course of this work, undergraduates and high school teachers will be hosted in the laboratory, to provide the former with valuable hands-on research experience and the latter with sufficient familiarity with the materials to be able to translate their work into new classroom programs for their students.

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