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Plant-Associated Microbe Genome Initiative
Plant-associated microbes play critical roles in agricultural and food safety and security and in the maintenance of ecosystem balance. Some of these diverse microbes, which include viruses, bacteria, oomycetes, fungi, and nematodes, cause plant diseases, while others prevent diseases or enhance plant growth. Despite their importance, we know little about them on a genomic level. A concerted and coordinated genomic analysis of these microbes is essential to intervene in disease and understand the basis of biological control or symbiotic relationships. To initiate discussions on how to achieve genome analysis of these diverse organisms, the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, and USDA-NRI funded a Workshop on Genome Analysis of Plant-Associated Microbes in Washington, D.C., on 9-11 April 2002. Workshop participants were members of the international microbe-plant interaction research community and included academic, government, and industrial scientists with expertise in structural and functional analysis and bioinformatics of microbial genomes. The research community was invited to comment on the product of the workshop, a white paper for a Plant-Associated Microbe Genome Initiative. The results of this process can be viewed at http://www.apsnet.org/members/ppb/top.asp, a site established by the Public Policy Board of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), who coordinated the effort.
Jan E. Leach
Kansas State University, Manhattan
jeleach@ksu.edu
Email: webmaster@asmusa.org