Research Study Provides Insight on Plant Gene Regulation

An international team of scientists have compared the genomes of multiple plants to better understand the factors that account for reduced diversity and gene mutation rate in a species. The team compared three newly sequenced genomes with six previously sequenced genomes including Capsella rubella and another brassica species, the salt-tolerant Eutrema salsugineum.

Scientists identified 90,000 noncoding base pairs, which account for 17 percent of A. thaliana's genome. The study yielded the first high-resolution, genome-wide map of noncoding regions. They concluded that the plants retained these sequences because they are vital in the evolution of genome organization. This information, along with ongoing research, will enable scientists to further understand the sequences in plant genomes that control the activation of certain traits in the development of these plants.

See DOE Joint Genome Institute's news release at http://jginews.blogspot.com/2013/07/doe-jgi-science-highlight-noncoding-dna.html. Access the study's full article at http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.2684.html#affil-auth.