September 2006 Newsletter

Job Description

Gramene database (http://www.gramene.org), is seeking applicants for a full time position for a plant biology curator who will participate in the development and maintenance of structured vocabularies for describing plant morphology, anatomy, growth and development stages for its Plant Ontology Consortium (POC) project (http://www.plantontology.org). These vocabularies (ontologies) are necessary to provide the backbone for describing phenotypes and gene expression patterns, and allow database users to perform a set of common queries or searches across different plant databases. The Plant Ontology Consortium is a collaboration among plant genome databases related to rice, Arabidopsis, maize, legumes, Solanaceae, etc.

The successful candidate will work with a team of curators, software engineers, and database developers at Gramene and collaborating database projects, such as TAIR (http://www.arabidopsis.org) and MaizeGDB (http://maizegdb.org); contribute to annotation of phenotypes, germplasm and gene products by using the vocabularies developed in the project; participate in development and application of methods to improve consistency and to enhance the quality of annotations; promote the use of ontologies in comparative genomics and biology through active participation in workshops, seminars and scientific meetings.

Qualifications

Successful candidate will have a Ph.D. degree and training in Plant Biology and related fields (e.g. Systematics, Development, Physiology), a demonstrated ability for independent, critical thinking and excellent communication and teamwork skills. The curator must be able to travel to and attend 2-3 national and international meetings per year. Familiarity with biological data mining, basic UNIX/Linux commands, spreadsheets, and commonly used biological research tools is desired. A working knowledge of SQL would be an asset but not required. Qualified candidates should e-mail a cover letter and resume to Pankaj Jaiswal (pj37@cornell.edu).

Genomic and Genetic Characterization of Rice Cen3 Reveals Extensive Transcription and Evolutionary Implications of a Complex Centromere. Yan et. al. The Plant Cell, 2006. More Info)

n RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is required for paramutation in maize. Alleman, M. et. al. Nature, 2006, 442, pp.295-298. ( More Info)

Mapped Ds/T-DNA launch pads for functional genomics in barley Zhao, T. et al. The Plant Journal, 2006. ( More Info)

Conserved requirement for a plant host cell protein in powdery mildew pathogenesis. Consonni, C. et al. Nature genetics. ( More Info)

Rice NTRC Is a High-Efficiency Redox System for Chloroplast Protection against Oxidative Damage. Perez-Ruiz, J. M. et al. The Plant cell, 2006. ( More Info)

The genetic basis for differences in leaf form between Arabidopsis thaliana and its wild relative Cardamine hirsuta. Angela Hay & Miltos Tsiantis. Nature Genetics 38, 942 - 947 (2006)

Q -Where can I find information about the history of a germplasm accession "RA####"?

A - Please refer to the Gramene Diversity database to find the germplasm information (country of origin, collection date etc...) Gramene has for the accessions. The RA- numbers are stock numbers assigned to the accessions in Dr. Susan McCouch's lab; you will find more identification including their common names, accession numbers assigned to them at IRRI/IRIS and NSGC/GRIN. For additional information the IRIS and GRIN databases may have about the germplasms, click the "search at IRRI" or "search at GRIN" links.

The January 2007 issue on "Genomics: moving towards gene revolution in rice" for "Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants", an Indian journal is under review. I (Rajinder Kumar Jain) take this opportunity to call for the short review articles, research papers, notes, etc. for this special issue. For details you may visit www.phssfoundation.org. The last date of submitting the articles is August 31, 2006.

PAG Abstracts and Posters: All accepted abstracts are limited to 250 words and will be included in the final printed program. The abstract submission deadline for PAG-XV Posters is Monday, 2 October, 2006, please submit your abstract now while space is still available (Over 1000 Abstracts are expected). Due the large number of abstracts, space availability may depend on the date of the abstract submission. Electronic web submission is preferred.

• Plant Biology Databases: A Needs Assessment - White Paper This is a summary of a collaborative review the anticipated needs of the plant genome research community for long-lived data collections. The authors offer guidelines for balancing the funding of data production projects with those aimed to manage and integrate the data. In particular, there is a pressing need to develop a trained cadre of skilled knowledge workers who are able to curate complex biological data, and to provide this cadre with a system of stable funding that enables data repositories to be established and maintained over extended periods of time. There is a positive current trend of species-specific databases to expand into comparative genomics-minded clade-oriented databases, but the authors caution that new technologies are needed to facilitate the transparent integration of data among these databases.

• IRRI Press release: New flood-tolerant rice offers relief for world's poorest farmers
• Waterproof rice gene identified
• Sub1A is an ethylene-response-factor-like gene that confers submergence tolerance to rice, Kenong Xu et. al. Nature 442, 705-708(10 August 2006)

USDA's first survey-based forecast of the 2006/07 U.S. rice crop is 197.2 million cwt, down almost 3 million cwt from last month's projection, and down 26 million cwt from 2005/06. Average yield is forecast at 6,813 pounds per acre, down 95 pounds per acre from last month. Long- grain production is forecast at 147.9 million cwt, down 6.1 million cwt from last month, while combined medium- and short-grain production is forecast at 49.3 million cwt, 3.3 million cwt above last month. U.S. 2006/07 exports are projected at 97 million cwt, down 3 million cwt from last month. Domestic and residual use is nearly unchanged from a month ago. Ending stocks are projected at 22.7 million cwt, down slightly from last month. The season- average farm price is projected at $9.25 to $9.75, up 10 cents per cwt on each end from last month.

Projected global 2006/07 production is lowered, consumption is raised, and trade and ending stocks are nearly unchanged from a month ago. World 2006/07 rice production is projected at a record 417.8 million tons, 0.5 million tons below last month. The decline in the world rice crop is due primarily to reduced production in Vietnam, North Korea, and the United States, which is partially offset by an increase for Thailand. World 2006/07 ending stocks are projected at 79 million tons, nearly the same as last month.

• Rice Outlook Report,
• US Wheat Outlook Report and
• Feed Outlook Report (corn, sorghum, barley, oats, hay)
  

October 9-11, 2006. The 4th International Rice Functional Genomic Symposium will be held in Montpellier, France. This unformal consortium was created in 2000 with a goal to orientate, organise and coordinate rice functional genomic research worldwide and to share a number of resources created in various labs and countries (http://www.iris.irri.org/IRFGC/). An important purpose of this annual symposium is to focus on most recent results and to promote interactions between participants in an informal and friendly atmosphere.

October 11-14, 2006. PlantGEMs Congress will be held in Venice. The Plant Genomics European Meetings (Plant GEMs) is a forum and communication platform for European plant genome researchers. It is open to interested scientists from all over the world. Since the creation of the ERA-PG (European Research Area in Plant Genomics) network in 2004, Plant GEMs has played a major role in fostering new collaborations and in stimulating networking among national genomic programs.

January 13-17, 2007. Plant and Animal Genome XV Conference

March 23-27, 2007. 2nd International Conference on Plant Molecular Breeding. Sanya City, Hainan, P. R. China. This event will focus on Applied plant genomics and molecular plant breeding in view of the increasing need to use newl molecular approaches and mine novel gene resources. All important aspects of plant molecular breeding and related transgenic ecological risk and intellectual property right (IPR) will be covered in several sessions and satellite workshops.

February 1-2, 2007. Beneath the Hull: Exploiting the Health-Beneficial properties of the Rice Grain. New Orleans. A rice utilization workshop.

January 12-16, 2008. PAG-XVI

See also:

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory - Meetings and Courses

GrainGenes Calendar