Genotype to Phenotype (iPG2P)

Elucidating the relationship between plant genotypes and the resultant phenotypes in complex, non-constant environments is one of the foremost challenges in plant biology (NRC, 2008*). Plant phenotypes are determined by intricate interactions between genetic controls and environmental conditions.

In a world where the environment is undergoing rapid anthropogenic change, predicting altered plant responses is central to studies of plant adaptation, ecological genomics, crop improvement activities (e.g. international agriculture, biofuels), physiology (e.g. photosynthesis, stress), plant development, and many more.

Addressing the Genotype to Phenotype (G2P) problem requires the integrated efforts of specialists from disciplines such as functional, quantitative, and computational genetics/genomics, bioinformatics, modeling, physiology, and computer science. New innovations in cyberinfrastructure are needed to support these diverse collaborations.

iPlant is supporting the development of cyberinfrastructure to enable analysis of large, complex datasets and empower plant biologists to execute the analysis without being a computational expert.