Colloquium: An Experimental Approach to Genome Annotation to be held July 19-20, 2004 in Washington, DC

American Society For Microbiology, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The American Society for Microbiology will convene a group of approximately 30 expert scientists for a colloquium July 19-20 in Washington DC, to discuss the problems faced in annotating the many complete microbial genome sequences that are now known and to develop a comprehensive, analytical, and practical report that may be used by the scientific community, federal agencies, the corporate sector, and the lay public. The colloquium will bring together bioinformaticians and experimental biologists to discuss how a synergy between the two groups might be established, potentially leading to coordinated efforts to identify the functions of genes of unknown function and a parallel effort to identify the genes that correspond to known enzyme activities, not so far linked to identifiable gene products or genes. These two ideas (characterizing genes in search of a function and functions in search of their genes) are complementary in perspective, with a common goal of improving the knowledge base upon which accurate genome annotation relies. Although the tools of modern bioinformatics can make credible predictions about potential functions for the proteins encoded by hypothetical open reading frames, only by subsequent experimental verification can that annotation be considered reliable. The colloquium will provide an opportunity for discussion between bioinformaticists and experimentalists to highlight the kind of information that is most useful to experimentalists who would test bioinformatic predictions. The discussion will also consider the criteria for prioritizing open reading frames suitable for experimental analysis. A professional science writer, working closely with the steering committee, will develop a draft report for review by the colloquium participants. It will provide a background briefing based on the colloquium presentations and a set of recommendations for further scientific endeavors in the field. The report will be developed in print and electronic formats.