| Abstract Detail
Plenary Symposium: New Directions in Molecular and Organismal Botany Mandoli, Dina F. [1]. The deep time transition from water to land: understanding -ologies with -omics. THE evolutionary transition to life on land and the diversification that followed required solving a series of problems including 1) exposure to air and solar irradiation; 2) life in a desiccating environment; 3) the need to transport water and nutrients over large body plans; 4) the need to carry out gas exchange in air rather than water; 5) competition for light capture; 6) support of organs in a less dense medium (air rather than water); and 7) reproduction and dispersal strategies that are independent of an aqueous environment. These challenges were met with biochemical, cellular, anatomical, and morphological solutions. The genetic basis of most of these innovations remains to be understood. With NSF support, we have provided the plant science community with a new and fundamentally important set of deep-coverage large-insert BAC libraries for examining the genetic basis of these innovations. Based on the importance of the taxon and our success in building BAC libraries, a significant percentage of the genomes of these taxa have or are now being sequenced. With other funds from NSF, a different group of investigators is sequencing the organellar genomes of ~50 species to help resolve key nodes in green plant phylogeny. These two efforts are synergistic in many ways. Fundamental questions in genetics, physiology, anatomy, development, ecology, systematics, paleobotany, etc. can be addressed with a better resolved phylogeny and with these genomic resources. There is a real need for experts in green algae, non-seed land plants, and seed plants (including flowering plants) to use these genomic resources to understand how land plants arose and diversified, and to elucidate the genetic basis for the transitions that mark the most fundamentally important steps in green plant evolution. I will discuss how people with biological expertise can use these genomic resources in their own research. Log in to add this item to your schedule
Related Links: Mandoli web page Green Tree of Life web page Green Plant BAC libraries
1 - University of Washington, Department of Biology and Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, Box 355325, 1521 Pacific Avenue NE, Seattle, Washington, 98195-5325, USA
Keywords: Genomics chlorophyte algae marine algae genetics non-seed plants flowering plants Chlorophyta Streptophytes genomic resources phylogeny BAC libraries Tree of Life.
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation Session: 12-2 Location: 170/Holt Date: Monday, July 31st, 2006 Time: 8:45 AM Abstract ID:837 |