DOE JGI releases expanded version of Phy...( WALNUT CREEK CA - An enhanced versi...)

WALNUT CREEK, CA - An enhanced version of Phytozome.net, a web portal for comparative plant genomics geared to advance biofuel, food, feed, and fiber research, has been released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI).

Phytozome provides a central "hub" for web access to a rapidly growing number of plant genomes, and includes tools for visualization of plant genomes and associated annotations, sequence analysis, and bulk, as well as targeted, plant data retrieval. The gene families available in Phytozome, defined at several evolutionarily significant epochs, provide a framework for the transfer of functional information to important biofuel and agricultural crops from model plant systems, as well as allowing users to explore land plant evolution.

The 4.0 release of Phytozome now spans fourteen plant genomes, including eight that have been sequenced at the DOE JGI:

• Populus trichocarpa, the black cottonwood tree, the first tree sequenced and being explored as a feedstock for a new generation of cellulosic biofuels.

• Sorghum bicolor, a drought-tolerant grass and the second most prevalent biofuels crop in the U.S.

• Soybean (Glycine max), the number two U.S. crop in both harvested acreage and sales and the principal source of biodiesel, a renewable, alternative fuel with the highest energy content of any current alternative fuel.

• Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a single-celled green alga, a powerful model system for the study of photosynthesis and source of hundreds of genes associated with carbon dioxide capture and generation of biomass.

• Brachypodium distachyon, a temperate wild grass and model plant for temperate grasses and herbaceous energy crops.

• Arabidopsis lyrata, a close relative of the model plant Arabidopis thaliana and a reference genome shedding light on the genetics, physiology, development, and str
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