Award Abstract #0110143
Systematic Transposon Mutagenesis of the Maize Gene Space

NSF Org:	DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure
Initial Amendment Date:	September 26, 2001
Latest Amendment Date:	August 10, 2005
Award Number:	0110143
Award Instrument:	Continuing grant
Program Manager:	Diane Jofuku Okamuro DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	September 1, 2001
Expires:	February 28, 2007 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$2140821
Investigator(s):	Robert Martienssen martiens@cshl.org (Principal Investigator) W. Richard McCombie (Co-Principal Investigator) Lincoln Stein (Co-Principal Investigator) Robert Lucito (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 1 BUNGTOWN ROAD COLD SPRING HARBOR, NY 11724 516/367-8307
NSF Program(s):	PLANT GENOME RESEARCH PROJECT
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	BIOT, 9251, 9109, 7462, 1228
Program Element Code(s):	1329

ABSTRACT

The maize genome probably contains between 50,000 and 100,000 genes clustered in hypomethylated gene rich regions. We have developed a new method for purifying these regions, and we will explore its use in identifying gene function. This will be accomplished by sampling gene-rich portions of the genome that are chemically distinct from the gene poor regions, and then displaying them on microarrays (DNA chips). These microarrays will then be queried using representations of the DNA corresponding to mutated genes from a large population of maize plants that carries transposable elements (jumping genes). We have previously developed one such population (the Maize Targeted Mutagenesis population) with prior funding from the Plant Genome Research Program. By using computational methods, we will combine the data from the two different resources to create an index of maize gene function, represented by maize seed corresponding to each mutated gene. We anticipate making thousands of entries into this index, allowing maize geneticists to systematically determine the functions of indexed genes.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Bruce P. May*1, Hong Liu*1, Erik Vollbrecht*1, Lynn Senior2, Pablo Rabinowicz1, Donna Roh1, Xiaokang Pan1, Lincoln Stein1, Mike Freeling3, Danny Alexander2, Rob Martienssen1**. "Maize Targeted Mutagenesis (MTM): a knockout resource for maize," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, v.100, 2003, p. 11541.

Martienssen R. and Colot V.. "DNA methylation and epigenetic inheritance in plants and fungi.," Science , v.293, 2001, p. 1070.

Martienssen R. and McCombie W.R.. "The First Plant Genome," Cell, v.105, 571, p. 349.

Martienssen RA, Rabinowicz PD, O'Shaughnessy A, McCombie WR.. "Sequencing the maize genome," Current Opinions in Plant Biology, v.7, 2004, p. 102.

May B. and Martienssen R.. "Transposon mutagenesis and plant development.," Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, v.22, 2003, p. 1.

Pablo D Rabinowicz, W Richard McCombie and Robert A Martienssen.. "Gene enrichment in plant genomic shotgun libraries," Current Opinion in Plant Biology 2003, 6:150û156, v.6, 2003, p. 150.

Pablo D. Rabinowicz, Lance E. Palmer, Bruce May, Michael Hemann, Scott Lowe, W. Richard McCombie, and Robert A. Martienssen. "Genes and transposons are differentially methylated in plants but not in mammals.," Genome Research, v.13, 2003, p. 2658.

Palmer LE, Rabinowicz PD, O'Shaughnessy AL, Balija VS, Nascimento LU, Dike S, de la Bastide M, Martienssen RA, McCombie WR.. "Maize genome sequencing by methylation filtration.," Science, v.302, 2003, p. 2115.

Settles A.M., Baron, A. Barkan A, and R. A. Martienssen (2001).. "Duplication and suppression of chloroplast protein translocation genes in maize. ," Genetics, v.157, 2001, p. 349.

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