1001 Genome Project – to Complete the Arabidopsis Genome Catalog

A global initiative to complete the Arabidopsis thaliana genomic sequence has been underway since 2008 by a legion of scientists including Detlef Weigel and Karsten Borgwardt from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Gunnar Rätsch from the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory in Tübingen, and Karl Schmid of the University of Hohenheim, together with scientists from eleven research institutes worldwide. The aim is to analyze and compare the genes of 1001 different Arabidopsis strains from all over Europe and Asia so as to obtain fundamental insights into evolution, genetics and molecular mechanisms.

The weed A. thaliana has been found to be a suitable model for this study because it can thrive under various environmental conditions and manifest traits and characteristics in response to its habitat. There are also discoveries on mutations which can be removed or made permanent in the genome for stress adaptations. To date, almost 500 different genomes have already been sequenced and analyzed at the different institutions. The data is being fed into a public database, which can be accessed by project participants and all interested scientists. The concepts, methods and platforms developed in this project can also be used to study crop plants and for fast and accurate mapping of desirable characteristics. In addition, researchers can transfer understanding about the influence of variation on gene products and their interactions to studies of the human genome.

Details of this news can be seen at http://tuebingen.mpg.de/startseite/detail/1001-genom-projekt-auf-dem-weg-zum-kompletten-erbgut-katalog-von-arabidopsis.html