BAC Data In MaizeGDB

BAC Research Tools | BACs Used for Sequencing B73 | Discussion of BAC Data for the General Public

BAC Research Tools

Simple BAC Search: This search form allows you to just enter basic name info to quickly retrieve the desired BAC. Use % as a wild card.

Here are some other sample queries for you to try out: b0052P04 , c0047J13, b000%

These queries are examples of the type of search you can do; they return BACs from the Maize Mapping Project isolated from B73 inbred line, PI 550473 (the "b" prefix applies to BACs isolated from a HindIII digest at Clemson and the "c" prefix applies to BACs isolated from an EcoRI digest, beginning with c0001 through c0288, or an MboI digest, c0289 through c0576, at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute).

This search can be executed on every page on the site by utilizing the form in the upper right corner. Choose "BACs" from the drop-down menu, enter your search term in the field, and hit return to find the BAC you're looking for.

What BACs were used for the physical map and for sequencing B73?

BAC libraries used for the physical BAC map, and the B73 genome sequence may be ordered from AGI (http://www.genome.arizona.edu). There are 2 library listings, ZMMBBb, for BAC names starting with a 'b', e.g., b0052P04; and ZMMBBc, for BAC clone names starting with a 'c', e.g., c0047J13.

Discussion of BAC Data for the General Public

What is a BAC?

A BAC, short for bacterial artificial chromosome, is a long, circular piece of DNA that is inserted into a bacterial cell and allowed to replicate along with the bacteria. The inserted circular DNA includes a long inserted piece (as large as 300,000 base pairs in length) of contiguous DNA from some other source.

So, why do this? Well, bacteria reproduce extremely quickly, usually dividing (meaning producing a single identical offspring) every twenty minutes under lab conditions. So, if you let a colony grow for a day, you will have millions of copies of your sequence. Then, since you have millions of copies, you can use techniques that allow for human-observable (or machine-observable) results on these sequences; individually, they're too small, but together, you can see results.

Here is an example BAC record, b0156C11.

What value does storing and studying BAC data have?

If you can store basic information about various BACs you have produced, you can quickly get an overall picture of the complete genome of an organism. With such huge chunks per BAC, it's easy to see how one would quickly begin to cover the whole genome with BAC chunks.

What is the connection between corn and BAC data?

The BAC techniques described above can easily be used on pieces of maize DNA. In fact, BAC data will be one of the underlying mechanisms for the maize genome project when it gets off the ground, which will lead to a much greater understanding of maize genetics.

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Last updated 2:47 pm, Jul 09, 2008.