Grass microarray database project

Joy Raison, eResearch SA
Dr. Ute Baumann, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG)

Abiotic stresses, such as temperature, water logging, drought, salinity and mineral deficiencies or toxicities are a major cause of yield and quality loss in cereal crops.

To develop varieties with resistance or increased tolerance to such stresses, scientists at the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) are working to determine which genes are activated or repressed in different varieties under different stress conditions, and the function of these genes in the metabolism of the plants.

Microarray technology has been developed to simultaneously detect the expression levels of thousands of genes in a sample of biological material. Microarray experiments are performed to determine differential gene expression in multiple biological samples.

The biological material could come from any organism, at any developmental stage, be from any tissue of the organism, and have undergone any treatment or stress regime. The design of each experiment will determine the biological material to be used and any treatments that will be applied to it.

To support genomic research, the results of microarray experiments can now be lodged at different web sites and made available to the public.

To take advantage of the information that these publicly available microarray datasets may have in relation to cereals under different abiotic stresses, eResearch SA, in conjunction with the ACPFG, developed a database to store microarray experiment related data on any species in the Poaceae (grass) family.

The aim of the Grass Microarray Database project is to collect, manage, and provide access to ACPFG and public microarray experiment data and related information for grass species in a single format.

Biologists, bioinformaticians and others are expected to access the data. Interfaces will be developed for each of these use groups to access the information they require.