JGI Plant Gene Atlas

In collaboration with scientific leaders from the plant genomics community, the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute has begun a large-scale, coordinated effort to add functional information to the JGI Plant Flagship genomes. The primary goal of this project is to develop dense RNA-seq data sets for Plant Flagships to form reference transcriptomes across common tissues and conditions and to provide the ability to compare expression from orthologous genes across the JGI Plant genomes. The secondary goal is to provide a technology test bed to further develop genomic techniques that illuminate the function of plant gene and other plant regulatory and pathway elements. As such, this project includes test projects for amplification for micro-tissue or laser capture micro dissection derived samples, small RNA matched samples, and 5’ -> 3’ capture techniques. The initial pilot project includes samples from five major JGI Plant Flagship genomes: Chlamydomonas (algal model), Physcomitrella (moss model), Setaria (grass model), soybean (legume model and crop plant), and poplar (biomass tree crop). The intention is to expand this project to include additional JGI Plant Flagship genomes and to provide a mechanism for JGI collaborators to propose additional tissues and conditions to further DOE plant science goals.