NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (GenomeWeb News) - A $2.2 million gene expression mapping effort - part of the National Science Foundation-funded "Arabidopsis 2010" program - resulted in a Science paper published today that shows where and when 22,000 of the plant's 28,000 genes are activated within growing root tissue.
DukeUniversity scientist Philip Benfey led the collaborative effort with others from New YorkUniversity and the University of Arizona. The researchers said in the Science article that they were able to harvest, lyse, and sort about 10 million cells in one and a half hours. Gene expression localization was analyzed by tracing green fluorescent protein tags that had been introduced into the genes. The tags were followed with ultraviolet light during three successive stages. The data was then "digitally reconstructed" to make a visual map.
