The rice genome is more than a resource for understanding the biology of a single species. It is a window into the structure and function of genes in other crop grasses as well. Using rice as the sequenced reference genome, researchers can identify and understand the relationships among genes, pathways and phenotypes in a wide range of grass species.Extensive work over the past two decades has shown remarkably consistent conservation of gene order within large segments of linkage groups in rice, maize, sorghum, barley, wheat, rye, sugarcane and other agriculturally important grasses. A substantial body of data supports the notion that the rice genome is substantially colinear at both large and short scales with other crop grasses, opening the possibility of using rice synteny relationships to rapidly isolate and characterize homologues in maize, wheat, barley and sorghum. As an information resource, Gramene's purpose is to provide added value to data sets available within the public sector, which will facilitate researchers' ability to understand the rice genome and leverage the rice genomic sequence for identifying and understanding corresponding genes, pathways and phenotypes in other crop grasses. This is achieved by building automated and curated relationships between rice and other cereals for both sequence and biology. ... [Information of the supplier]
