Sunflower ESTs generated at University Of California, Davis, Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, and Genoplante.. Helianthus annuus

Compositae genome project has been initiated at the University Of California, Davis to develop genetic resources for sunflower and lettuce. As a result large, number of ESTs have been generated from these plants and are being analyzed for extent of synteny between sunflower, lettuce and Arabidopsis genomes. They also plant to conduct QTL analysis and develop a genetic approach for gene analysis. Compositae Genome Project Database (CGPDB) has been developed as a result of this effort. This project is supported by the USDA IFAFS program. Genoplante, a partnership of French institutes (INRA, CIRAD, IRD and CNRS) and private companies (Biogemma, Bayer CropScience and Bioplante) is also involved in developing sunflower ESTs as part of their genome analysis program for important French crop species. Tamborindeguy et al, Institut Nationale Polytechnique de Toulouse-Ecole Nationale Superieure de Toulouse, France are also involved in sunflower EST sequencing with an aim of understanding dicot embryogenesis.