This proposal requests support for two related workshops to discuss the evolving needs of the Arabidopsis community for database support. The current Arabidopsis database TAIR is at a crossroads concerning content, sustainability, and integration with database resources for other plants and other organisms. The expanding amount of DNA sequence data, expression analysis, protein interaction data, phenotypic characterization and other data for both Arabidopsis and numerous other plants requires new vision to ensure that data are deposited, curated and made available appropriately. An entire new approach to biological research has as its underpinnings the facile recovery and analysis of these vast amounts of data. The first workshop, organized by the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee and with all onsite support provided by the BBSRC, will be held in the UK in Spring 2010. This proposal covers cost for travel of the US participants to this first workshop. The UK workshop will comprise presentations and breakout sessions on the current state of informatics and databases in Arabidopsis and other plants. The workshop will generate an outline that will be presented to informatics experts, plant biologists and representatives from synthesis centers and the commercial sector at a second workshop, organized by the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee to be held in the US May10-11, 2010 in Washington, DC. The majority of the current proposal is a request for support of the US workshop organization and attendance. This second workshop will discuss the issues raised by the UK meeting with the intent to generate potential solutions. A final report containing analysis and recommendations from both workshops will be produced.
Broader Impacts: Defining the informatic needs of the biological community and how to manage these data are ongoing challenges. Working towards solutions for data access is critical to the entire Arabidopsis community, as well as to researchers in all fields of science. Therefore, the outcome of this workshop will have wide-ranging impact in the field of plant research and the larger area of biological sciences.
Research involving Arabidopsis thaliana, the primary reference and model plant, has increasingly impacted our understanding of other plants and underpins many of the recent major breakthroughs in plant science. However, the Arabidopsis community is now at a critical junction; it is facing the challenge of effectively managing increasing amounts and new types of data produced by the global Arabidopsis community in a funding climate that has limited long-term database support. It is clear that a new and sustainable model for Arabidopsis bioinformatics is needed that will require major innovations in research approaches, information management, and international funding collaborations. Undoubtedly, researchers working with other species will face similar challenges in the near future; therefore, the Arabidopsis community can lead the way for the plant sciences through its current efforts to address these vital issues. The broader impact of the work was in the plans and ideas for the future development of resources to integrate information about the model plant, Arabidopsis, and how this might shape information and data access for other plant species. This project funded several gatherings of plant biologists, as well as experts from other scientific communities (animal models and the biomedical community) to participate in workshops and meetings to engage in discussions of the current and future bioinformatics needs of the Arabidopsis community and to generate solutions to the issues that were identified. Specific discussion and recommendations were integrated into a combined report and published in a major plant journal. Outcomes were also presented at several large plant science conferences and a preliminary webpage for information dissemination and input gathering was established. A final outcome of the project, based on participant recommendations, was the development of a new international informatics consortium to guide the next phase of Arabidopsis bioinformatics. The intellectual merit of the work was in the reflection on the importance of existing resources and the specific plans for future development of informatics resources. Participants of the gatherings agreed that there was a continued need for a central Arabidopsis information resource and that the importance of a current, organized and carefully curated Arabidopsis genome to researchers studying other plants, including crops, cannot be overstated. It was further recognized that cohesive, cooperative, and long-term international collaboration is critical to successfully maintain an Arabidopsis database infrastructure that is essential for plant biology research worldwide. A primary recommendation was to establish an international informatics consortium to develop a novel, integrated, framework with which to address the informatics needs of the Arabidopsis community while providing a smooth transition from the current database structure to a stable, sustainable structure built upon a distributed model. The purpose of the distributed model is to enable flexible funding approaches on an international scale and, simultaneously, increase the breadth and depth of resources and data sets that can be integrated into the central database. The envisioned core resource consists of four components including an informatics portal that links geographically distributed resources and combines their outputs into a user-friendly interface; the Arabidopsis ‘gold standard’ genome annotation; genome/sequence curation; and Arabidopsis community stock and resources databases. The broader Arabidopsis community could then link to the core resource via additional informatics projects that are supported by research groups located throughout the world. This approach allows the core Arabidopsis resources to be maintained and simultaneously allows for expansion to new databases and resources as they are developed. Participants at the project-supported gatherings envisioned expanding the resource in the future to involve Arabidopsis relatives, crops, and other economically and agronomically important species. Finally, participants recommended that the new Arabidopsis consortium be guided by a scientific advisory board comprised of scientists from the countries involved in supporting the consortium. The board should provide oversight, ensure that contact with international funding agencies is maintained, act as a point of contact for researchers wishing to contribute to the resource, encourage the uptake of standards developed by the community, and liaise with the community to ensure that the resource anticipates and responds to their needs.
