Sorghum Genetics
Executive Committee Meeting
Monday, January 17,
2005
Summary
Attendees:
Paxton Payton, USDA
Joey Bedell, Orion Genomics
Andrew Paterson, UGA
Alan Gingle, UGA
Sandy Clifton,
John Mullet,
Marie-Michele Cordonnier-Pratt, UGA
Jura Magalhaes,
EMBRAPA, Brazil
Yinghua Huang, USDA
Wendy Walters, DPI&F. Australia
Agenda:
1) Review the draft
summary of the
Summary was approved by the committee and it was decided that it should be distributed to the community after confirmation that all recommended changes had been incorporated. This report should be disseminated to the community by Steve Kresovich. Once the final version is distributed, it was also agreed that it should be posted on relevant websites: cggc (Alan Gingle), fungen (Pratt lab), and NGSP (Dahlberg). Additionally, the summary should be included in the next issue of the International Sorghum and Millet Newsletter. These efforts will serve to inform the broadest possible audience of the actions of the committee.
2) Initiate the
development of the “white paper” for sorghum genomics.
An outline was generated for the white paper. Andy Paterson agreed to write the initial draft and will be assisted by John Mullet, Yinghua Huang, and Jura Magalhaes. Upon completion of the final version, a meeting report will be submitted for publication (similar to Maize paper) in Plant Physiology.
I. Introduction
A. Critical need to define and emphasize the novel contributions to science that investment in sorghum research will provide.
1. international importance of grain sorghum as a crop
2. represents and under-explored agrobiotic area because of the weediness; no other weed is as closely related to a cultivated species
3. sorghum will “round out” the geography of the Poaceae:
Asia-rice, Africa-sorghum, North America-maize
B. Particular emphasis was placed on the need for more international participation, specifically from African nations.
1. an international effort will be required to advance the research breeders
2. network for dissemination of this information and assistance in identifying candidates; McKnight Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Syngenta
II. Research Activities/Goals
A. Sequencing and Gene Resources
1. sequencing efforts will be focused on bicolor (BTX 623) although some efforts in propinquum; methyl filtration, cot, full-length cDNA
2. bicolor and propinquum differ significantly in non-coding regions which can confound assembly/alignment
3. if sequencing in alternative species, then this should be done to generate full-length cDNAs to improve the number of SNPs, SSRs, etc. which are valuable to breeders, enhances our ability to annotate the genome, and may help in linking maps
B. Mapping
1. establishment of a “gold-standard” genetically-anchored physical map that integrates existing resources
C. BAC Resources
1. critical need for ordering of BACs; there are several high-quality BAC libraries:
IS3620C, BTX623 –
BTX623, propinquum –
2. identification of BACs containing genes and sequencing to establish a minimal tiling path; alternatively, if shotgun sequencing proves to be a better option then this will be pursued
III. Informatics
A. There is a need to establish a “gold-standard” database, as well as a more portable database for regions with Internet throughput limitation affecting web access.
B. The establishment of a sorghum portal, with links to relevant sorghum, comparative (e.g., gramene) and related taxon (e.g., maizeGDB) Web database resources, was recommended. Alan Gingle agreed to look into available URLs and volunteered to host the portal on the Web resources at CGGC.
IV. Outreach and Education
A. focus on African breeders and universities
1. distinction between breeders (older, established, unrefined and unpublished data that is available to varying degrees) and universities (target the next generation and educate them on data collection techniques and information dissemination); Steve Kresovich and Rebecca Nelson have experience in this area
V. Dissemination of Information
A. Formalize the meeting summary and the status of sorghum research. Primary responsibility will be on Andy, assisted by John M., Yinghua, and Juran
B. submit the summary to Plant Physiology in addition to websites
3) Election of
Executive Committee
Steve Kresovich and John Burke will coordinate the identification of nominees and establish whether nominees are interested in serving on the executive committee. Once the nominees are identified and elected, the executive committee shall be formed using the following guidelines:
1. 15 member committee
• a minimum of 5 seats will be filled by international members
• a minimum of 2 seats will be filled by industry members
2. 3-4 year term with 3-5 members replaced with newly elected members each year
3. committee will establish guidelines for future committee actions
4. primary role will be to collect, collate, and disseminate information
5. committee will organize consortium meetings
6. committee will serve as an advocacy group for each country and area of research, with emphasis on cohesiveness of the community and importance of the crop