Bioinformatics Tools for Plant Genomics

Call for Papers

The merger of biotechnology and information technology allows revealing new insights into and principles in biology. Genomics is a new and fascinating area of biology enabled through the large-scale DNA sequencing efforts of many public and private organizations, including the Human Genome Project. Research in genomics is producing huge amounts of data unprecedented in biology at the level of the whole genome. But how to manage, store, and interpret the data relies on a growing new discipline called bioinformatics. Bioinformatics provides a way in which to manage and store huge amounts of data, and to create statistical tools for analyzing it. Bioinformatics will enable scientists in many fields to find an incredible wealth of information, and to find answers that range from which genes affect human diseases to what makes tree grow. Bioinformatics uses computer power to understand the links between pieces of information from research areas such as molecular biology, structural biochemistry, enzymology, cell biology, physiology, and pathology.

This special issue will focus on the bioinformatics tools widely used in the following areas of genomics research, with emphasis on applications of the bioinformatics in the following areas:

  • Plant databases
  • DNA sequence annotation and analysis (genomic sequence, ESTs and full-length cDNA)
  • DNA marker development from database such as SSR and SNP mining
  • Genetic mapping
  • Physical mapping
  • Association study
  • Diversity: sequence and function
  • Phylogentics
  • Genomics-assisted breeding
  • Microarray data analysis
  • Pathway networking
  • Comparative genomics
  • Protein structure prediction

The articles in all of the listed areas are called for this special issue, but any other areas of articles that are related to applications of bioinformatics for genome research are welcome. Moreover, while the issue will focus on the applications of bioinformatics in plant genomics, the reviewed articles in other systems such as human, animals, and microbes that are potentially applicable to plant genomics are also considered for publication in the special issue.

Authors should follow the International Journal of Plant Genomics manuscript format described at the journal site http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijpg/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the International Journal of Plant Genomics Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/, according to the following timetable:

Manuscript DueSeptember 1, 2007
First Round of ReviewsDecember 1, 2007
Publication DateMarch 1, 2008

Guest Editors

  • Chunguang Du, Bioinformatics Program, Montclair State University, Montaclair, NJ 07043, USA
  • Gary Skuse, Bioinformatics Program, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA