Introduction to OMGN

Because of their economic impact as plant pathogens, molecular,
genetic and genomics studies are well advanced in many oomycete
species. These organisms have served as lead species for the entire
Stramenopiles lineage, a major radiation of crown eukaryotes,
distinct from plants, animals and fungi. The oomycete molecular
genetics community has a strong culture of collaboration and
communication, and sharing of techniques and resources. With the
recent blossoming of genetic and genomic tools for oomycetes, many
new investigators, from a variety of backgrounds, have become
interested in oomycete molecular genetics and genomics. The goals of
the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Research Collaboration Network is to
facilitate the integration of these investigators into the community
and to further strengthen the cooperative culture of this community.
A particular emphasis is placed on training and integrating junior
faculty and faculty from institutions under-represented in the U.S.
research infrastructure. The network's activities have been supported
by two grants from the NSF Research Collaboration Networks in Biology
program.

The proposed network is open to all researchers with an interest in
oomycete molecular genetics and genomics, either at an experimental
or a computational level. Investigators new to the field are always
welcome, especially those interested in saprophytes and animal
pathogens. Please email Brett Tyler with a brief description of your
research interests if you wish to become a member of the network.

 

Genome Annotation Workshop Series, Virginia Bioinformatics Insitute, August 2007.

Headlines

March 15-17 2009: The next Oomycete Molecular Genetics meeting will be held at the Asilomar Conference       Center in Pacific Grove, California, on March 15-17 2009,  right before the Fungal Genetics Conference. The Program will begin in the evening of March 15, and conclude around 12 noon on March 17.

 

July 14-16, 2008: Plant-Associated Microbe Gene Ontology (PAMGO) Training Workshop

The PAMGO Training Workshop will provide two days of lectures on genome annotation, including an introduction to the Gene Ontology and PAMGO and instruction on how to evaluate the reliability of gene models produced by gene prediction software, how to evaluate functional predictions produced by annotation software and how to use the Gene Ontology to accurately describe the functions of gene products. A third day will be devoted to hands-on exercises in annotation of genes involved in host-associated microbes. Examples for annotation will be chosen based on the interests of the participants. The workshop will be valuable to researchers working in animal-microbe interactions as well as plant-microbe interactions.

July 16-18, 2008: Oomycete Bioinformatics Training Workshop

The Oomycete Bioinformatics Workshop will provide a day of lectures introducing the wide variety of oomycete genomics and bioinformatics resources currently available followed by a two-day "mini-jamboree" in which participants will carry out in-depth comparisons of genes from the four oomycete genome sequences currently available: Phytophthora sojae, Phytophthora ramorum, Phytophthora infestans and Hyaloperonospora parasitica.

 

Travel Fellowships

Travel fellowships of up to $800 will be available to participants attending one of the workshops and of up to $1,000 for those attending both workshops. Faculty from predominantly undergraduate institutions, and graduate students from all institutions, are especially encouraged to apply. The deadline for fellowship applications is March 1, 2008.

Visit the Bioinformatics Workshop Series website for more details.


We are pleased to announce a new program of training fellowships for the oomycete community.  These fellowships are funded by the new NSF Research Collaboration Networks grant to the community.  The new grant is focused on oomycete genomics, so the focus of the training program is on oomycete genomics and bioinformatics. Requests for molecular genetics training also will be considered if funds are available.

The deadline for applications is January 31, 2008.

Visit the Traineeships page for more details.


The 2008 Oomycete Molecular Genetics Workshop will be held at the Birnam Institute from May 6-9, 2008. The Birnam House Hotel and the Atholl Arms are holding double/twin rooms for the nights of May 6, 7, and 8th.

Birnam is on the edge of the highlands and is a beautiful place. The River Tay flows through it (on its way to Dundee and SCRI), and there is a good chance you may see jumping salmon at that time of year. There's white water rafting, mountain biking and hill walking for the energetic and some very pleasant short walks for the others (The Hermitage, for example)!! There will be a half-day off into the program for you to enjoy the area.

Travel fellowships are available for students, postdocs and junior faculty from the US and developing countries. The deadline for travel fellowship applications is February 8, 2008.

Visit the Workshops page for registration and travel fellowship information.


GILB, CIP and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) are organizing a Third International Conference on Late Blight to be held in Beijing between April 3-6, 2008.  This conference builds on the earlier ones in Hamburg, Germany, in 2002 and Quito, Ecuador, in 1999. For more information and pre-registration visit: http://research.cip.cgiar.org/GILB/

A provisional assembly of the Hyaloperonospora parasitica draft genome sequence has been released by the Washington university genome Sequence Center. The sequence may be downloaded from here. Blast searches of the sequence can be conducted with VBI Toolkit Blast Notes:

Download Gene Nomenclature

With the arrival of genome sequences of Phytophthora sojae, P. ramorum, P. infestans, P. capsici, and Hyaloperonospora parasitica as well as EST resources for several other oomycetes, a vast plethora of genes have suddenly become available to the community. This has generated a need to standardize the naming of oomycete genes in order to maximize the value of comparative genomics approaches. A proposal for standardized naming of oomycete genes has been developed by a committee representing the community with input from attendees at the 2006 meeting in Wageningen. The proposal can be downloaded here. Input is requested from community members. Please email your comments and suggestions to Howard Judelson by August 31, 2006. After that date, a final nomeclature recommendation will be created and forwarded to journals that publish papers on oomycete molecular genetics.