VEGI - Value-directed Evolutionary Genomics Initiative

Bridging comparative, population and functional genomics to identify and experimentally validate novel regulatory regions and genes for crop improvement

This website provide information of the VEGI project, a collaborative study between scientists at the University of McGill and the University of Toronto. The major objective of the VEGI project is to identify novel targets of agronomic interest, followed by a functional genomics study to experimentally characterize the targets. The targets will be identified by comparative and population genomics and by genome wide association studies. Identified targets will be further investigated by T-DNA mutants, which will be selected from existing databases (ACR). The link with the homozygous T-DNA induced mutants in Arabidopsis will be established by screening for specific traits. The choice of the potentially commercially valuable traits will be supported by an economic evaluation of the VEGI GELS team.