Welcome
The objective of this site is to provide information on Brassica genomics resources developed at NRC-PBI and AAFC in collaboration with other institutions. This site also provides links to other relevant Brassica information.
Brassica species represent several important crops including B. napus (canola) B. rapa (broccoli) and B. juncea (mustard) and contribute significantly to the Canadian economy (see Canola Council of Canada website). Advances in genomics research provide new opportunities in crop plant breeding where the linkage of genes to traits can be more efficient and predictable that conventional breeding.
Resources
Brassica EST resources were developed thanks to funding from NRC - Genome Health Initiative program (GHI), AAFC Crop Genomics Initiative (CGI) Genome Canada / Prairie / Alberta projects Enhancing Canola Through Genomics (ECTG) and Designing Oilseeds for Tomorrow's Markets (DOTM).
DNA arrays are an important tool for the study of gene expression. A Brassica cDNA array developed by NRC-PBI in collaboration with NRC-BRI is now available. A CombiMatrix array is being developed in collaboration with AAFC. It is expected that this array will be available to the Brassica genomics researchers early 2008. Check the 90k oligoarray site for updates.
Projects
Genome Canada through Genome Prairie and Genome Alberta has funded large Brassica genomics projects:
International Resources
www.brassica.info is an international initiative to collate and exchange information relating to Brassica genomics and genetics. This resource is maintained by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The B. rapa sequencing project objective is to sequence the B. rapa genome. AAFC and NRC are contributing to this project.