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Carolyn J Lawrence

Publications and source records attributed to Carolyn J Lawrence.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

MaizeGDB's new data types, resources and activities.

MaizeGDB is the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database. Available at MaizeGDB are diverse data that support maize research including maps, gene product information, loci and their various alleles, phenotypes (both naturally occurring and as a result of directed mutagenesis), stocks, sequences, molecular markers, references and contact information for maize researchers worldwide. Also available through MaizeGDB are various community support service bulletin boards including the Editorial Board's list of high-impact papers, information about the Annual Maize Genetics Conference and the Jobs board where employment opportunities are posted. Reported here are data updates, improvements to interfaces and changes to standard operating procedures that have been made during the past 2 years. MaizeGDB is freely available and can be accessed online at http://www.maizegdb.org.

Chromosome Mapping↗

The maize genetics and genomics database. The community resource for access to diverse maize data.

The Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (MaizeGDB) serves the maize (Zea mays) research community by making a wealth of genetics and genomics data available through an intuitive Web-based interface. The goals of the MaizeGDB project are 3-fold: to provide a central repository for public maize information; to present the data through the MaizeGDB Web site in a way that recapitulates biological relationships; and to provide an array of computational tools that address biological questions in an easy-to-use manner at the site. In addition to these primary tasks, MaizeGDB team members also serve the community of maize geneticists by lending technical support for community activities, including the annual Maize Genetics Conference and various workshops, teaching researchers to use both the MaizeGDB Web site and Community Curation Tools, and engaging in collaboration with individual research groups to make their unique data types available through MaizeGDB.

Base Sequence↗

Comparative plant genomics resources at PlantGDB.

PlantGDB (http://www.plantgdb.org/) is a database of plant molecular sequences. Expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences are assembled into contigs that represent tentative unique genes. EST contigs are functionally annotated with information derived from known protein sequences that are highly similar to the putative translation products. Tentative Gene Ontology terms are assigned to match those of the similar sequences identified. Genome survey sequences are assembled similarly. The resulting genome survey sequence contigs are matched to ESTs and conserved protein homologs to identify putative full-length open reading frame-containing genes, which are subsequently provisionally classified according to established gene family designations. For Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and rice (Oryza sativa), the exon-intron boundaries for gene structures are annotated by spliced alignment of ESTs and full-length cDNAs to their respective complete genome sequences. Unique genome browsers have been developed to present all available EST and cDNA evidence for current transcript models (for Arabidopsis, see the AtGDB site at http://www.plantgdb.org/AtGDB/; for rice, see the OsGDB site at http://www.plantgdb.org/OsGDB/). In addition, a number of bioinformatic tools have been integrated at PlantGDB that enable researchers to carry out sequence analyses on-site using both their own data and data residing within the database.

Computational Biology↗

A standardized kinesin nomenclature.

In recent years the kinesin superfamily has become so large that several different naming schemes have emerged, leading to confusion and miscommunication. Here, we set forth a standardized kinesin nomenclature based on 14 family designations. The scheme unifies all previous phylogenies and nomenclature proposals, while allowing individual sequence names to remain the same, and for expansion to occur as new sequences are discovered.

Animals↗

LumberJack: a heuristic tool for sequence alignment exploration and phylogenetic inference.

SUMMARY: LumberJack is a phylogenetic tool intended to serve two purposes: to facilitate sampling treespace to find likely tree topologies quickly, and to map phylogenetic signal onto regions of an alignment in a revealing way. LumberJack creates non-random jackknifed alignments by progressively sliding a window of omission along the alignment. A neighbor-joining tree is built from the full alignment and from each jackknifed alignment, and then the likelihood for each topology (given the original full alignment) is calculated. To determine whether any of the topologies generated is significantly more likely than the others, Kishino-Hasegawa, Shimodaira-Hasegawa and ELW tests are implemented. Availability and SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: http://www.plantbio.uga.edu/~russell/software.html

Algorithms↗

MaizeGDB, the community database for maize genetics and genomics.

The Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (MaizeGDB) is a central repository for maize sequence, stock, phenotype, genotypic and karyotypic variation, and chromosomal mapping data. In addition, MaizeGDB provides contact information for over 2400 maize cooperative researchers, facilitating interactions between members of the rapidly expanding maize community. MaizeGDB represents the synthesis of all data available previously from ZmDB and from MaizeDB-databases that have been superseded by MaizeGDB. MaizeGDB provides web-based tools for ordering maize stocks from several organizations including the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center and the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station (NCRPIS). Sequence searches yield records displayed with embedded links to facilitate ordering cloned sequences from various groups including the Maize Gene Discovery Project and the Clemson University Genomics Institute. An intuitive web interface is implemented to facilitate navigation between related data, and analytical tools are embedded within data displays. Web-based curation tools for both designated experts and general researchers are currently under development. MaizeGDB can be accessed at http://www.maizegdb.org/.

Computational Biology↗

Maximum likelihood methods reveal conservation of function among closely related kinesin families.

We have reconstructed the evolution of the anciently derived kinesin superfamily using various alignment and tree-building methods. In addition to classifying previously described kinesins from protists, fungi, and animals, we analyzed a variety of kinesin sequences from the plant kingdom including 12 from Zea mays and 29 from Arabidopsis thaliana. Also included in our data set were four sequences from the anciently diverged amitochondriate protist Giardia lamblia. The overall topology of the best tree we found is more likely than previously reported topologies and allows us to make the following new observations: (1) kinesins involved in chromosome movement including MCAK, chromokinesin, and CENP-E may be descended from a single ancestor; (2) kinesins that form complex oligomers are limited to a monophyletic group of families; (3) kinesins that crosslink antiparallel microtubules at the spindle midzone including BIMC, MKLP, and CENP-E are closely related; (4) Drosophila NOD and human KID group with other characterized chromokinesins; and (5) Saccharomyces SMY1 groups with kinesin-I sequences, forming a family of kinesins capable of class V myosin interactions. In addition, we found that one monophyletic clade composed exclusively of sequences with a C-terminal motor domain contains all known minus end-directed kinesins.

Animals↗