Rice Genetics IV - IRRI books - International Rice Research Institute

ESTsGenetic markersMorphologicalMolecularLarge-insert clonesYACs/PACs/BACsGenome sequenceGenesGene structuresProtein sequenceProtein 3-D structuresRNAsOther biomoleculesRice genomedatabaseExpression profileTissue/organ specificityCellular/developmental processesEnvironmental responseBiochemical pathwaysPlant improvementConventional methodsTransformationComparative approachesPhylogenyHomologyVariationPhenotype screenMutant panelGermplasmFig. 1. Integrating genomic information and genetic resources in rice to facilitate theformation of new biological discoveries and simulate approaches for an effective riceimprovement program. EST = expressed sequence tag, YAC = yeast artificial chromosome,PAC = P1-derived artificial chromosome, BAC = bacterial artificial chromosome.pursuing the needs and expectations of rice genomics. Comparative bioinformaticsoffers possibilities to link various cereal crops through their genomes and will providekeys to understanding how genes and genomes are structured, how they function,and how they evolved. Genetic mapping as well as some preliminary sequencedata show the extent of synteny among cereal crops (Bennetzen 1999). Through identificationof synteny, it will be possible to isolate genes from crop plants with largegenomes using information of homologous genes in related crops with smaller genomes.As the creation of links between different databases may foster interoperability(Karp 1996, Macauley et al 1998), linkages and interactions should also be promotedbetween databases of rice and other organisms.An era of biological revolution has begun during which a tremendous amount ofinformation on plant genetics will be accumulated over the next ten years. The needto transform these data into information that the rice community and biologists ingeneral can query and use properly should be given high priority. As in any informaticseffort, the essential factors necessary to achieve the desired success in ricebioinformatics involve developing the necessary tools for interlinking information orwhole databases. As we move from the pregenomic to the postgenomic era, ricebioinformatics should also be able to adapt to the next challenge of analyzing biologicaland agricultural problems in multiple dimensions.Bioinformatics and the rice genome 303