Exploiting the Brachypodium Tool Box in cereal and grass research

Luis Alejandro Jose Mur, Joel Allainguillaume, Pilar Catalán, Robert Hasterok, Glyn Jenkins, Karolina Lesniewska, Ianto Thomas, John P. Vogel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

115 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

It is now a decade since Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) was suggested as a model species for temperate grasses and cereals. Since then transformation protocols, large expressed sequence tag (EST) databases, tools for forward and reverse genetic screens, highly refined cytogenetic probes, germplasm collections and, recently, a complete genome sequence have been generated. In this review, we will describe the current status of the Brachypodium Tool Box and how it is beginning to be applied to study a range of biological traits. Further, as genomic analysis of larger cereals and forage grasses genomes are becoming easire, we will re-evaluate Brachypodium as a model species. We suggest that there remains an urgent need to employ reverse genetic and functional genomic approaches to identify the functionality of key genetic elements, which could be employed subsequently in plant breeding programmes; and a requirement for a Pooideae reference genome to aid assembling large pooid genomes. Brachypodium is an ideal system for functional genomic studies, because of its easy growth requirements, small physical stature, and rapid life cycle, coupled with the resources offered by the Brachypodium Tool Box.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)334-347
Number of pages14
JournalNew Phytologist
Volume191
Issue number2
Early online date31 May 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2011

Keywords

  • Brachypodium
  • comparative genomics
  • functional genomics
  • genome sequencing
  • model grass

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