Triticeae genomics: advances in sequence analysis of large genome cereal crops

Whole genome sequencing provides direct access to all genes of an organism and represents an essential step towards a systematic understanding of (crop) plant biology. Wheat and barley, two of the most important crop species worldwide, have two- to five-fold larger genomes than human - too large to be completely sequenced at current costs. Nevertheless, significant progress has been made to unlock the gene contents of these species by sequencing expressed sequence tags (EST) for high-density mapping and as a basis for elucidating gene function on a large scale. Several megabases of genomic (BAC) sequences have been obtained providing a first insight into the complexity of these huge cereal genomes. However, to fully exploit the information of the wheat and barley genomes for crop improvement, sequence analysis of a significantly larger portion of the Triticeae genomes is needed. In this review an overview of the current status of Triticeae genome sequencing and a perspective concerning future developments in cereal structural genomics is provided.