Library Guides: Plant Sciences Research Guide: Plant Biotechnology & Genetics

Plant Genetics at MSU

Rapid changes in the biotechnology industry have occurred as a result of molecular, genetic and cell biological techniques. Students working in the field of biotechnology emphasize both molecular and cellular biological concepts and associated techniques to address problems facing plant, animal or microbial production systems. A strong foundation is developed through coursework in chemistry, physics, biology, microbiology, genetics, and allied sciences during the first two years of the program (College of Agriculture).

The Department conducts research programs in: cereal quality; cropping systems/specialty crops; molecular and conventional approaches to plant improvement. Faculty have expertise in molecular genetics, plant breeding and genetics, cereal quality, cytogenetics, biochemistry, plant physiology and agronomy.

Online Resources for Plant Genetics

BioTradeStatus
The BioTradeStatus database is a limited resource for individuals seeking information about the commercial status of the agricultural biotechnology seeds that are referenced in the database.
Crop Genebank Knowledge Base
The primary users and beneficiaries of this website are genebank curators and technicians responsible for managing germplasm collections. Breeders and farmers will benefit from more efficient mechanisms to distribute and access germplasm. Universities will also benefit from this important collection of resource materials to train new researchers in agricultural biodiversity conservation.
Ensembl Plants
Ensembl Plants is developed in coordination with other plant genomics and bioinformatics groups via the EBI's role in the transPLANT consortium.
GrainGenes
GrainGenes is a suite of services for the Triticeae and Oat communities, including databases, documents, tools, data files, web sites, announcements, curation, and community assistance.
Gramene
Gramene is a curated, open-source, integrated data resource for comparative functional genomics in crops and model plant species. Our goal is to facilitate the study of cross-species comparisons using information generated from projects supported by public funds. Gramene currently hosts annotated whole genomes in over two dozen plant species and partial assemblies for almost a dozen wild rice species in the Ensembl browser, genetic and physical maps with genes, ESTs and QTLs locations, genetic diversity data sets, structure-function analysis of proteins, plant pathways databases (BioCyc and Plant Reactome platforms), and descriptions of phenotypic traits and mutations.
GreenPhyl
GreenPhylDB is a web resource designed for comparative and functional genomics in plants. The database contains a catalogue of gene families based on gene predictions of genomes, covering a broad taxonomy of green plants.
List of Genome Databases and Sequencing Efforts
List of Plant Genetics Databases
List of Plant Genome Databases
RefSeq
The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) collection provides a comprehensive, integrated, non-redundant, well-annotated set of sequences, including genomic DNA, transcripts, and proteins. RefSeq sequences form a foundation for medical, functional, and diversity studies. They provide a stable reference for genome annotation, gene identification and characterization, mutation and polymorphism analysis (especially RefSeqGene records), expression studies, and comparative analyses.
Plant GDB
Tools and resources for comparative plant genomics.

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR)
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The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) maintains a database of genetic and molecular biology data for the model higher plant Arabidopsis thaliana . Data available from TAIR includes the complete genome sequence along with gene structure, gene product information, gene expression, DNA and seed stocks, genome maps, genetic and physical markers, publications, and information about the Arabidopsis research community.