Welcome to the Soybean EST Project Home Page

The objectives of this project are to clone and decode 300,000 genes. We will do this by cloning and decoding the messages of the genes. Since different plant parts and different stages of development will contain different gene messages, we will clone these messages from many different stages and organs. The cloned gene messages will be individually decoded and the codes will be made available to the public. The clones will also be made available to the public. Since this will result in a vast amount of information we are developing computer programs to help scientist glean the data for valuable information.

Specific Aims

1. To assemble a team of researchers that will work together to build and use a national soybean genetic resource for the betterment of the soybean industry
2. To develop cDNA libraries (gene messages) and gene sequences (300,000) for genes of economic importance
3. To use cDNA sequences to build upon and expand the scope and usefulness of the current soybean genome project through gene discovery
4. To test a novel strategy for identifying genes not usually identified in `standard' EST projects
5. To develop computerized methods to efficiently query, sort and generally make useful the vast amounts of raw data generated by the project
6. To make available at the earliest possible date, to all interested parties, research results (sequence information, clones, etc.) pertaining to the project

	History and Organization of the Soybean EST Project			Recent Developments			Information About the cDNA Libraries