MaizeGDB: The Maize Model Organism Database for Basic, Translational, and Applied Research

Carolyn J Lawrence,Darwin A Campbell,Trent E Seigfried,Taner Z Sen,Lisa C Harper,Mary L Schaeffer

doi:10.1155/2008/496957

Abstract

In 2001 maize became the number one production crop in the world with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reporting over 614 million tonnes produced. Its success is due to the high productivity per acre in tandem with a wide variety of commercial uses. Not only is maize an excellent source of food, feed, and fuel, but also its by-products are used in the production of various commercial products. Maize's unparalleled success in agriculture stems from basic research, the outcomes of which drive breeding and product development. In order for basic, translational, and applied researchers to benefit from others' investigations, newly generated data must be made freely and easily accessible. MaizeGDB is the maize research community's central repository for genetics and genomics information. The overall goals of MaizeGDB are to facilitate access to the outcomes of maize research by integrating new maize data into the database and to support the maize research community by coordinating group activities.

Highlights

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a species that encompasses the subspecies mays as well as the various teosintes that gave rise to modern maize
A single researcher might even include all of these three aspects in his/her research simultaneously, here the researcher types are distinguished as follows: basic researchers investigate the fundamental biology of the organism, translational researchers work to determine the application of basic research outcomes for practical purposes [18], and applied researchers implement proven technologies to improve crops
Because MaizeGDB stores and makes accessible data of use for a variety of applications, it is a resource of interest to maize researchers spanning many disciplines

Summary

Introduction

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a species that encompasses the subspecies mays (commonly called “corn” in the US) as well as the various teosintes that gave rise to modern maize. Many seminal scientific discoveries have first been shown in maize, such as the identification [2] and cloning [3] of transposable elements, the correlation between cytological and genetic crossing over [4], and the discovery of epigenetic phenomena [5]. These exceptional characteristics of maize set this amazing plant apart: no other species serves as both a commodity and a leading model for basic research

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Conclusion