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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #349571
Title: The next generation of training for Arabidopsis researchers: bioinformatics and quantitative biology

Author
item FRIESNER, JOANNA - University Of California, Davis
item ASSMANN, SARAH - Pennsylvania State University
item BASTOW, RUTH - Cardiff University
item BAILEY-SERRES, JULIA - University Of California
item BEYNON, JIM - University Of Warwick
item BRENDEL, VOKER - Indiana University
item BUELL, ROBIN - Michigan State University
item BUCKSCH, ALEXANDER - Salk Institute Of Biological Studies
item DEMURA, TAKU - National Center For Agriculture And Forestry Technologies (CENTA)
item DINNENY, JOSE - Carnegie Institute - Stanford
item DOHERTY, COLLEEN - North Carolina State University
item EVELAND, ANDREA - Danforth Plant Science Center
item FALTER-BRAUN, PASCAL - Danforth Plant Science Center
item GEHAN, MALIA - Danforth Plant Science Center
item GONZALES, MICHAEL - Applied Genetics Technical Center
item GROTEWOLD, ERICH - Michigan State University
item GUTIERREZ, RODRIGO - Universidad Católica Boliviana
item KRAMER, UTE - University Of Bochum
item KROUK, GABRIEL - University Of Montpellier
item MA, SHISONG - University Of Science And Technology Of China
item MARKELZ, R.J. CODY - University Of California, Davis
item MEGRAW, MOLLY - Oregon State University
item MEYERS, BLAKE - University Of Missouri
item MURRAY, JAMES - Cardiff University
item PROVART, NICHOLAS - University Of Toronto
item RHEE, SUE - Carnegie Institute - Stanford
item SMITH, ROGER - Syngenta Crop Production
item SPALDING, EDGAR - University Of Wisconsin
item TEAL, TRACY - National Plant Data Center
item TORII, KEIKO - University Of Washington
item TOWN, CHRIS - J Craig Venter Institute
item VAUGHN, MATTHEW - University Of Texas
item VIERSTRA, RICHARD - Washington University
item Ware, Doreen
item WILKINS, OLIVIA - McGill University - Canada
item WILLIAMS, CRANOS - North Carolina State University
item BRADY, SIOBHAN - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Plant Physiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/31/2017
Publication Date: 12/4/2017
Citation: Friesner, J., Assmann, S., Bastow, R., Bailey-Serres, J., Beynon, J., Brendel, V., Buell, R., Bucksch, A., Demura, T., Dinneny, J., Doherty, C., Eveland, A., Falter-Braun, P., Gehan, M., Gonzales, M., Grotewold, E., Gutierrez, R., Kramer, U., Krouk, G., Ma, S., Markelz, R., Megraw, M., Meyers, B., Murray, J., Provart, N., Rhee, S., Smith, R., Spalding, E., Teal, T., Torii, K., Town, C., Vaughn, M., Vierstra, R., Ware, D., Wilkins, O., Williams, C., Brady, S. 2017. The next generation of training for Arabidopsis researchers: bioinformatics and quantitative biology. Plant Physiology. 175:1499-1509.

Interpretive Summary: The paper discusses the guidelines and recommendations for training needs of plant scientists in the 21st century to support advancing our knowledge and understanding of biological mechanisms associated with plants. These guidelines include guidelines for core skill sets, recommendation for modification of existing curricula for undergraduate, graduate and early faculty, specifically enhancing training in the quantitative and computational analyses, support for cross inter disciplinary training and the need for collaborative versus individual science.

Technical Abstract: It has been more than 50 years since Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was first introduced as a model organism to understand basic processes in plant biology. A well-organized scientific community has used this small reference plant species to make numerous fundamental plant biology discoveries (Provart et al., 2016). Due to an extremely well-annotated genome and advances in high-throughput sequencing, our understanding of this organism and other plant species has become even more intricate and complex. Computational resources, including CyVerse, Araport, The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR), and BAR, have further facilitated novel findings with just the click of a mouse. As we move toward understanding biological systems, Arabidopsis researchers will need to use more quantitative and computational approaches to extract novel biological findings from these data. Here, we discuss guidelines, skill sets, and core competencies that should be considered when developing curricula or training undergraduate or graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty. A selected case study provides more specificity as to the concrete issues plant biologists face and how best to address such challenges.