Our research mission can be divided into long-term, mid-range, and project-specific goals.

Long-term goals

The long-term goal of our research is to understand the complex molecular genetic interactions that are responsible for the evolutionary success and socioeconomic importance of pines and other conifers.  Such understanding is critical to (1) protecting America's trees and forests from pests, pathogens, and environmental stresses, (2) developing safe and effective means of improving plantation trees, (3) realizing the tremendous potential of conifers as bioenergy feedstocks, (4) curbing global warming through carbon sequestration.

Mid-range goals (10-20 yrs)

Complete sequencing and physical mapping of the pine genome are goals that we share with many members of the conifer genomics community.  APG represents a major step towards these goals.

Project-specific goals

(1) Construction of a pine 10X bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library that will serve as an essential resource for physical mapping, gene discovery, and eventual genome sequencing (see BAC Library);

(2) Generation of a Cot curve for loblolly pine (see Cot Analysis) and production of gene- and repeat-enriched DNA libraries (via Cot filtration) that will be used to explore genomic sequence diversity in pine, acquire critical information on pine genes including regulatory sequences, and characterize the repeats that comprise most of pine's DNA (see DNA Sequencing);

(3) Determination of how repeats and low-copy sequences are spatially organized within chromosomes and BACs via filter- and chromosome-based DNA hybridization (see Physical Mapping and Cytomolecular Mapping);

(4) Association of pine linkage groups with their cytologically-defined chromosomes as a means of studying relationships between genetic linkage, chromosome structure, and physical (DNA) distances (see Cytomolecular Mapping); and

(5) Education and training of students at graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 levels (see Education) with emphasis on engaging individuals from groups traditionally under-represented in the sciences (see Promoting Diversity).

*This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DBI-0421717.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.  MGEL © 2006. Web design by Daniel G. Peterson.  Last updated 08-Jun-2006.