Developing integrated crop knowledge networks to advance candidate gene discovery

We describe the datasets and outline the methods, workflows and tools that we have developed for creating and visualizing these networks for the major crop species, wheat and barley. We present the global characteristics of such knowledge networks and with an example linking a seed size phenotype to a barley WRKY transcription factor orthologous to TTG2 from Arabidopsis, we illustrate the value of integrated data in biological knowledge discovery. The software we have developed (www.ondex.org) and the knowledge resources http://knetminer.rothamsted.ac.uk we have created are all open-source and provide a first step towards systematic and evidence-based gene discovery in order to facilitate crop improvement.
Source: Applied and Translational Genomics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research