Comparative genomics with maize and other grasses: from genes to genomes!

Of all the major plant groups, the grasses, with the complete genomes of five species, are the best positioned to take advantage of comparative genomics to obtain insight into functional genetic elements. Of all the grasses, maize is the best characterized in terms of genetics, development, and evolution. We provide several examples of how the web-based comparative genomics system CoGe may be used to aid in the interpretation of the maize genome sequence. These examples include verifying gene models, identifying differences between genome assemblies, identifying conserved non-coding sequences, identifying syntenic regions between species and polyploidies, and identifying homeologs within maize and orthologs between maize and other grass genomes. In addition, a comprehensive list of orthologous gene sets is provided between maize and Sorghum, foxtail millet, rice, and Brachypodium