Structural Genomics Structural Genomics

Dr. Joann Mudge works on structural genomics, studying the implications of how genomes are organized. Structural genomics includes the examination of the differences in genomic organization among individuals (for instance, nucleotide changes, insertions or deletions of nucleotide stretches, duplication of nucleotide stretches, and/or other genomic changes). Structural genomics is an important part of many of the projects at NCGR. Dr. Mudge played an important role in discovering and making sense of genomic differences between the genome of a Korean individual and other published genomes, culminating in a publication in Nature. She is currently doing similar comparisons between two twins, one of whom has multiple sclerosis. Drs. Mudge and May are looking at genome structure in plants on a much larger scale in a project funded by a $5 million NSF grant, $2 million of which comes to NCGR. They are sequencing more than 400 lines of Medicago truncatula, a plant used as a genomic model for the bean and pea plant family that have the rare and important ability to make atmospheric nitrogen available to all living plants (and through plants to animals). These 400 lines were chosen to represent a broad range of the genetic diversity in M. truncatula. Elucidating their genomic structure will allow us to correlate important agronomic traits to specific regions of the genome or even to precise genes or nucleotide changes. This will greatly facilitate our ability to understand and even manipulate pathways underlying important plant traits. The great leap in sequencing capacity and concomitant reduction in cost in recent years has made this an exciting time in biology, allowing us to ask and answer questions that were previously impossible to address.