Iowa State builds genome to phenome research
A new federal grant will support an Iowa State University-led effort to spur development of a “genome to phenome” infrastructure for scientific collaboration across crops and livestock.
The three-year, $960,000 project will provide guidance and lay the groundwork for a larger federal Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture.
Researchers working from “genomics to phenomics” explore how genomes (organisms’ complete set of DNA) influence the expression of observable, phenotypic traits. With sufficient understanding of these relationships, it becomes possible to predict phenotypic traits based on an organism’s genome/DNA sequence. The USDA’s goal is to foster a broad community of researchers to use genome to phenome approaches as a foundation for improving the efficiency and resilience of U.S. agriculture.
Some of the project’s training and events will focus on specific species like maize or cattle. Most will be focused on research and logistics across species boundaries, including cyberinfrastructure, bioinformatics and data storage and sharing.
