Comparative genome analysis between several tropical grasses

The availability of molecular markers allowed comparing genetic maps between distinct taxa. Among the Poaceae (grasses) family, species as divergent as rice, wheat and maize show collinearity within wide regions along the whole genome. This opens the way for the integration of knowledge across all grasses and the development of molecular tools of general interest using the simple genome of rice. Many agronomically important tropical grasses belong to two major sub-families. Comparisons between maize, sorghum and sugarcane, three members of the Andropogoneae tribe, are briefly reviewed. One example of a particular genome region is used for extending the comparison to rice and illustrating various applications of comparative genome mapping. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.