About the Young Lab's Research Program:
Our research centers on the evolution of plant genomes, with a special emphasis on disease resistance and symbiotic genes of legumes. We focus on genomic analysis of the model legume, Medicago truncatula, as well as the important agricultural crop, soybean, using the tools of DNA sequencing and bioinformatics. Earlier, our efforts concentrated on the sequencing (and re-sequencing) of the Medicago genome, a project that involved the participation of hundreds of scientists worldwide. We expanded this work to create a Medicago "Hapmap", which enables high resolution mapping of important biological traits, including genes responsible for legume-rhizobium symbiosis and nitrogen fixation. The outcome of these projects, a high quality genome sequence and genome-wide association mapping tool for legumes, are valuable resources for crop improvement worldwide. Using a range of bioinformatic and genomic tools, we targeted genome regions rich in genes controlling plant-microbe interactions in order to learn more about their molecular diversity, evolutionary history and biological function. This information will be useful in basic research, by helping to reveal the mechanisms that plants use to defend and cooperate with microbes, and in applied research, by providing breeders with better tools for creating improved crop varieties.
Research Areas:
- Medicago Hapmap: Developing a platform for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of quantitative traits, including symbiosis
- Sequencing and re-sequencing genomes of the model legume, Medicago truncatula
- Bioinformatic analysis of the Medicago genome sequence
- Mapping and cloning of plant disease resistance genes, with a special emphasis on soybean and Medicago
- Characterizing the molecular evolution of plant disease resistance genes
- Developing resources for positional gene cloning in M. truncatula and soybean
- Marker-assisted plant breeding for improved disease resistance in soybean