However, little is known of their function.
Sequence motifs indicate that they act at the beginning of signaling pathways.
The only demonstrated function for these genes is in disease or pest resistance, but they may also be involved in other aspects of plant biology including development and response to the environment. The objectives of this project are to complete a detailed functional analysis of NBS-LRR genes in Arabidopsis and a comparative analysis of representatives in maize and rice. Broad functional classes of NBS-LRR encoding genes will be established and the specific functions of a subset of these classes will be characterized. Genes induced by the action of NBS-LRR gene products will be identified. Microarrays will be used to determine changes in global expression patterns caused by expression of NBS-LRR genes and will also look for gross developmental and physiological changes.