October 2009: GDCB Professor Steve Rodermel receives research funding for proteomics research project

Dr. Steve Rodermel, professor in GDCB, has been awarded $63,471 as a collaborator on a research project awarded by the NSF to the University of California, San Diego, entitled “TRPGR: Discovery, Revision, and Validation of Maize Genes by Proteogenomics”.

Dr. Steven Briggs of the University of California, San Diego, the PI on the project, outlined in the proposal to the NSF that the most fundamental goal of genome science is to discover all of the protein-coding genes, and then to discern the abundance, location, and exact chemical composition of every protein made during the life cycle of an organism; this is called the proteome. A complete and accurately annotated proteome provides the foundation for studies of systems biology and molecular evolution, as well as for hypothesis-driven research. Dr. Rodermel’s lab will provide proteogenomic discovery, revision, and confirmation of 40,000-50,000 maize gene models created in Aim 1 of this project, which is to create an Atlas of Maize Proteins. Dr. Rodermel’s research includes the identification of exons, the definition of translation start sites and exon borders, and the determination of the correct exon reading frames.

Access to the biological materials used in the project is provided by the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN, http://www.ars-grin.gov/). Access to the project results, including data and software, is provided by websites and publications by the investigators (http://briggs.ucsd.edu/; http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/~vbafna/). The long-term repository for project data is Tranche (https://proteomecommons.org/index.jsp) and Gramene (http://www.gramene.org).