We anticipate that gene discovery in the Genes for Georgia program will use one of two different strategies:

(1) For organisms that are under-explored at the DNA level, the ‘EST’ approach is usually the most efficient way to discover large numbers of genes. This approach will be a first avenue of inquiry. A brief description of EST sequencing can be found here.


(2) For organisms in which the EST approach has reached a point of diminishing returns (typically about 100,000 or so ESTs), we will apply the ‘Cot-based Cloning and Sequencing’ approach which is an efficient and cost-effective means by which to discover key genes that elude the EST approach. The University of Georgia Research Foundation has applied for a patent on CBCS.  For a detailed description, download the primary research manuscript describing the technique click here.
 

For a 'glossary' of commonly-used terms in genomics and what they mean, we find this resource to be helpful.