The role of rats in functional genomics

Two hundred years of physiological and pharmaceutical studies and a decade of transgenic technology and genomic resources have made the laboratory rat a major model for biomedical research.     

Statistical characterization of nucleic acid sequence functional domains

It has long been recognized that various genome classes were distinguishable on the basis of base composition and nearest neighbor frequencies. In addition Grantham et al. (8) have recently presented evidence that these distinctions are preserved at the level of codon usage. As discussed in this report it is now clear that these and related statistics can uniquely characterize the various functional domains of the genome. In particular peptide coding, intervening segments, structural RNA coding and mitochondrial domains of the vertebrate genome are uniquely characterizable. The statistical measures not only reflect understood functional differences among these domains but suggest others. The ability of these simple statistics of nucleic acid sequences to reflect so much of the encoded complex pattern information and/or effects of selective constraints is somewhat surprising. Here, we investigated the statistical measures most distinctive of the various domains and then linked them to our current understandings in so far as possible.     

The integrated world of functional genomics

A report on the EMBO meeting 'Functional Genomics; The Future of Biology', Heidelberg, Germany, 13-16 October 2002.     

The modular era of functional genomics

A report on the Keystone Symposium 'Functional Genomics: Global Analysis of Complex Biological Systems', Santa Fe, USA, 20-24 February 2003.     

Integrative functional genomics

A report on the Keystone Symposium 'Biological Discovery Using Diverse High-Throughput Data', Steamboat Springs, USA, 30 March-4 April 2004.     

蚜虫基因组及功能基因组研究进展

蚜虫作为刺吸式昆虫和植物病毒的传播者,已经成为严重威胁农业生产发展的重要害虫之一。近几年随着分子生物学的发展,尤其是基因组测序技术的进步,蚜虫基因组学和功能基因组学取得了重大突破,使我们对蚜虫特殊的生物学特征有了深层次的认识。本文就蚜虫与内共生菌关系、表型可塑性、发育和生殖、系统进化、解毒酶基因家族以及唾液腺方面在基因组和功能基因组水平上的研究进展进行了综述。     

Transformation of Actinidia eriantha: A potential species for functional genomics studies in Actinidia

Protocols were developed for regeneration and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Actinidia eriantha Benth. A. eriantha has a number of features that make it a useful tool for functional genomics in Actinidia: the vines are relatively small and non-vigorous in nature, flowers form all over the vine including on lower axillary branches and the species flowers prolifically in greenhouse conditions. Flowering and fruiting of transgenic A. eriantha plants was obtained within 2 years of transformation in a containment greenhouse. GUS (β-glucuronidase) activity indicating stable expression of the uidA gene was observed in leaf, stem, root, petal and fruit tissues. Molecular evidence for incorporation of transgenes into the A. eriantha genome was obtained by PCR and DNA gel blot analysis. Inheritance of transgenic phenotypes was demonstrated in seedling progeny. Functional genomic studies in kiwifruit have been initiated using transgenic A. eriantha plants. Communicated by F. Sato     

The genomics of lactic acid bacteria

The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are one of the most industrially important groups of bacteria. These organisms are used in a variety of ways, including food production, health improvement and production of macromolecules, enzymes and metabolites. The genome sequencing of 20 LAB provides an expanded view of their genetic and metabolic capacities and enables researchers to perform functional and comparative genomic studies. This review highlights some of the findings from these analyses in the context of the numerous roles the LAB play.     

植物功能基因组研究方法及进展

随着植物功能基因组研究的深入,T-DNA标签、转座子标签、反义RNA技术、基因敲除、基因陷阱和TILLING技术等多种研究方法获得了建立,并随着植物功能基因组学的不断发展而进一步完善.综述了各类研究方法的原理,并对这些方法的优缺点进行了比较与分析.     

Integrating sequence, evolution and functional genomics in regulatory genomics

With genome analysis expanding from the study of genes to the study of gene regulation, 'regulatory genomics' utilizes sequence information, evolution and functional genomics measurements to unravel how regulatory information is encoded in the genome.     

Perspectives on functional genomics

As the first assembly of the human genome was announced on June 26, 2000, we have entered post genome era. The genome sequence represents a new starting point for science and medicine with possible impact on research across the life sciences. In this review I tried to offer brief summaries of history and progress of the Human Genome Project and two major challenges ahead, functional genomics and DNA sequence variation research.     

功能基因组学的研究方法

基因组学的研究已从结构基因组学转向功能基因组学,功能基因组学时代对于基因功能的研究也由单一基因转向大规模,批量分析,本综述了功能基因组学的研究内容与方法,主要包括：差异显示反转录PCR,基因表达序列分析（SAGE）,微点阵,遗传足迹法,反求遗传学,蛋白质组学和生物信息学等新方法。     

植物重要功能基因研究进展及其应用

随着越来越多植物全基因组测序的完成,植物基因研究的重点将逐渐从基因的发现转移到对基因功能的研究上来。近年来,植物基因功能的阐述日益深入,尤其是与作物产量和抗性相关的重要农艺性状调控机理的研究更加引人注目,一些具有应用价值的功能基因相继被鉴定并得到功能注释。该文综述植物功能基因研究领域近年来的主要进展,着重介绍具有应用前景的重要功能基因的研究。同时,对目前利用基因工程、分子标记辅助选择等于段改良作物的现状及其前景进行讨论。     

Rice functional genomics research in China

Rice functional genomics is a scientific approach that seeks to identify and define the function of rice genes, and uncover when and how genes work together to produce phenotypic traits. Rapid progress in rice genome sequencing has facilitated research in rice functional genomics in China. The Ministry of Science and Technology of China has funded two major rice functional genomics research programmes for building up the infrastructures of the functional genomics study such as developing rice functional genomics tools and resources. The programmes were also aimed at cloning and functional analyses of a number of genes controlling important agronomic traits from rice. National and international collaborations on rice functional genomics study are accelerating rice gene discovery and application.     

Structure-based functional inference in structural genomics

The dramatically increasing number of new protein sequences arising from genomics 4 proteomics requires the need for methods to rapidly and reliably infer the molecular and cellular functions of these proteins. One such approach, structural genomics, aims to delineate the total repertoire of protein folds in nature, thereby providing three-dimensional folding patterns for all proteins and to infer molecular functions of the proteins based on the combined information of structures and sequences. The goal of obtaining protein structures on a genomic scale has motivated the development of high throughput technologies and protocols for macromolecular structure determination that have begun to produce structures at a greater rate than previously possible. These new structures have revealed many unexpected functional inferences and evolutionary relationships that were hidden at the sequence level. Here, we present samples of structures determined at Berkeley Structural Genomics Center and collaborators laboratories to illustrate how structural information provides and complements sequence information to deduce the functional inferences of proteins with unknown molecular functions.Two of the major premises of structural genomics are to discover a complete repertoire of protein folds in nature and to find molecular functions of the proteins whose functions are not predicted from sequence comparison alone. To achieve these objectives on a genomic scale, new methods, protocols, and technologies need to be developed by multi-institutional collaborations worldwide. As part of this effort, the Protein Structure Initiative has been launched in the United States (PSI; www.nigms.nih.gov/funding/psi.html). Although infrastructure building and technology development are still the main focus of structural genomics programs [1–6], a considerable number of protein structures have already been produced, some of them coming directly out of semi-automated structure determination pipelines [6–10]. The Berkeley Structural Genomics Center (BSGC) has focused on the proteins of Mycoplasma or their homologues from other organisms as its structural genomics targets because of the minimal genome size of the Mycoplasmas as well as their relevance to human and animal pathogenicity (http://www.strgen.org). Here we present several protein examples encompassing a spectrum of functional inferences obtainable from their three-dimensional structures in five situations, where the inferences are new and testable, and are not predictable from protein sequence information alone.