Plant Genome Research Program  (PGRP)

Special Notice: BREAD

See the Dear Colleague letter recently issued to call your attention to a funding opportunity that will be offered in FY 2009.  The Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development (BREAD) Program will support basic research to build a foundation for generating sustainable, science-based solutions to problems of agriculture in developing countries, testing innovative hypotheses leading to novel and creative approaches and technologies.

FYI

A new Coordination Plan for the National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI) by the National Science and Technology Council's Interagency Working Group on Plant Genomes (IWG) is now available at:  http://www.nsf.gov/bio/pubs/reports/npgi_five_year_plan_2009_2013.pdf

PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Solicitation  08-607

Please be advised that the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) includes revised guidelines to implement the mentoring provisions of the America COMPETES Act (ACA) (Pub. L. No. 110-69, Aug. 9, 2007.) As specified in the ACA, each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. Proposals that do not comply with this requirement will be returned without review (see the PAPP Guide Part I: Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II for further information about the implementation of this new requirement).

SYNOPSIS

This program is a continuation of the Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) that began in FY1998 as part of the National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI). The current five-year plan for the NPGI was published in January 2003 (http://www.nsf.gov/bio/pubs/reports/npgi2003/NPGI2003-2008.pdf). The overall goals of this program are to support basic research in plant genomics and to accelerate the acquisition and utilization of new knowledge and innovative approaches to elucidating fundamental biological processes in plants. The focus is on plants of economic importance and plant processes of potential economic value.

In the past eleven years of the PGRP, there has been a tremendous increase in the tools available for genomics in key crop plants and their models, including but not limited to, expressed sequence tags (ESTs), genome survey sequences, mutant collections, expression profiling resources, and tools for studying gene expression in situ. High quality whole genome sequences and downstream tools are available for a number of key crops as well as widely-used model systems. This wealth of genomic resources now makes it possible for researchers to begin to address some of the major unanswered questions in plant biology that have been intractable using traditional approaches as well as transfer findings from model systems into plants of economic importance. At same time, there is a continued need for novel and creative tools to allow development of new experimental approaches or new ways of analyzing genomic data. Proposals that present conceptually new and different ideas are encouraged, especially from investigators and institutions that have not participated in the PGRP before. In addition, proposals that provide strong and novel training opportunities integral to the research plan, and particularly across disciplines are especially encouraged.

Four kinds of activity will be supported in FY 2009: (1) Genome-Enabled Plant Research (GEPR) awards to tackle major unanswered questions in plant biology on a genome-wide scale; (2) Transferring Research from Model Systems (TRMS) to apply basic biological findings made using model systems to studying the basic biology of plants of economic importance; (3) Tools and Resources for Plant Genome Research (TRPGR) awards to support development of novel technologies and analysis tools to enable discovery in plant genomics; and (4) Heterosis Challenge Grants (HCG) to support testing of hypotheses for the mechanism(s) of heterosis in plants.

The PGRP encourages proposals from early career investigators and also considers proposals submitted to the CAREER program (http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503214). Early career investigators are strongly encouraged to contact a PGRP Program Director for further guidance.

FUNDED AS PART OF THIS ACTIVITY

Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development

Developing Country Collaborations in Plant Genome Research (DCC-PGR)

Maize Genome Sequencing Project: An NSF/DOE/USDA Joint Program

RELATED URLS

PGR Staff Directory

PGR Reports

Achievements of the National Plant Genome Initiative and New Horizons in Plant Biology

Plant Genome Database (PlantGDB)

Plant Genomics Research Outreach Portal (PGROP)

Video: Secrets of Plant Genomes revealed

THIS PROGRAM IS PART OF

Additional Funding Opportunities for the DBI Community

Opportunities that Highlight International Collaboration

Abstracts of Recent Awards Made Through This Program

News

Discoveries