Plant Pathogen Genomics
The rapid increase in the availability of complete genome sequences and large Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) datasets for many crops and plant pathogens allows us to bring new methods and perspectives to bear on our studies of the interactions between plant pathogens and their hosts. We are now able to compare the completed genomes of hundreds of bacterial genome species, revealing previously intractable evolutionary relationships between these organisms, and providing new insights into adaptation of pathogens to their hosts and environmental niches.
Comparing the genes present in phylogenetically diverse plant pathogens also allows us to identify common pathways or strategies used by these organisms and offers the prospect of novel generic control strategies. By the development and use of high-throughput molecular technologies, such as transposon grids and custom microarrays, we can now obtain detailed 'molecular snapshots' of the processes taking place in pathogens and their hosts, in order to build up a complete picture of the processes underlying development of infection.
Analysis of this large-scale genomic data would not be possible without the power of computers, and the genomic research efforts in plant pathogens are aided by the development of custom databases, and visualisation and analysis software, such as the GenomeDiagram visualisation package.
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