Evolutionary nodes—

Points of evolutionary divergence, representing ancient speciation events.

Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs)—

The result of large-scale partial sequencing of randomly selected cDNA clones. ESTs are a useful tool for gene identification, localization, and mapping.

Fabaceae—

The legume family. Members include soybean, beans, cowpeas, peas, and alfalfa as well as numerous tropical trees.

Finished sequencing—

Additional sequencing needed to fill gaps, reduce ambiguities, and increasing sequence accuracy to no more than 1 error per 10,000 base pairs. The finished version will provide an estimated 8x to 9x coverage of each chromosome.

Fixed inbred lines—

Plant lines in which all loci are homozygous and, if selfed, breed true. Populations of fixed inbred lines may be developed from biparental crosses, i.e., Recombinant Inbred, (RI) lines or Doubled Haploid (DH) lines. These are considered immortal populations because each line retains its genetic integrity when selfed.

Forward genetics—

Identification of mutants followed by genetic crosses to locate the genes in which the mutations occurred.

Functional genomics—

The analysis of genes, their resulting proteins, and the role played by the proteins in an organism’s biochemical processes.

Gene-rich regions—

DNA sequences that contain a high percentage of coding sequences, and less than average amounts of non-coding DNA.

Genetic linkage—

The residing of genes closely together on the same chromosome arm. Linked genes tend to recombine less frequently than unlinked genes.

Front Matter (R1-R16)

Executive Summary (1-8)

1 Introduction (9-14)

2 Sequencing: Generating the Raw Material (15-22)

3 Maximizing the Return from Reference Sequencing: Translational Agriculture (23-30)

4 Functional Exploitation of Genome Sequences (31-36)

5 Genomics and the Major Transitions in Plant Evolution (37-40)

6 Development of a National Strategy for Plant Bioinformatics (41-50)

7 Achieving Interdisciplinary Training (51-52)

References (53-54)

Appendix A: June 6-7, 2002 Workshop Agenda (55-58)

Appendix B: Committee Biographies (59-64)

Appendix C: Number of Publications in 2000-01 of 50 Most Cultivated Species (65-68)

Glossary (69-76)