Sequence and analysis of chromosome 4 of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana

The European Union Arabidopsis Genome Sequencing Consortium, The Cold Spring Harbor, Washington University in St Louis and PE Biosystems Arabidopsis Sequencing Consortium

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

334 Scopus citations

Abstract

The higher plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) is an important model for identifying plant genes and determining their function. To assist biological investigations and to define chromosome structure, a coordinated effort to sequence the Arabidopsis genome was initiated in late 1996. Here we report one of the first milestones of this project, the sequence of chromosome 4. Analysis of 17.38 megabases of unique sequence, representing about 17% of the genome, reveals 3,744 protein coding genes, 81 transfer RNAs and numerous repeat elements. Heterochromatic regions surrounding the putative centromere, which has not yet been completely sequenced, are characterized by an increased frequency of a variety of repeats, new repeats, reduced recombination, lowered gene density and lowered gene expression. Roughly 60% of the predicted protein-coding genes have been functionally characterized on the basis of their homology to known genes. Many genes encode predicted proteins that are homologous to human and Caenorhabditis elegans proteins.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)769-777
Number of pages9
JournalNature
Volume402
Issue number6763
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 16 1999

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Sequence and analysis of chromosome 4 of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this