This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Funding from the MRI program has created a "next generation" sequencing center, dedicated to plant genomics. Such centers were recently called for by a report on the plant genome project by the National Research Council. The facility will be used for a wide range of projects ranging from de novo sequencing of the various plant genomes and transcriptomes to studies of epigenetics. The center will consist of an Illumina GAIIx DNA sequencer and computer equipment for data analysis and storage. Such centers exist of course for human and animal sequencing, but dedicated instruments for plant sequencing will be an important development that would greatly impact plant genomics. The availability of substantial capability in next generation sequencing will allow the much more rapid collection of plant genomics data. The center greatly enhances the national infrastructure for next generation sequencing that is available to the plant genome community, and contributes meaningfully to the training of scientists to use such equipment.
