Gramene: functional genomics in plants

Functional genomics (in combination with other approaches) plays an important role in plant sciences. It is being used in many diverse ways from informing selective breeding in tomatoes (2), producing alternative gluten-free grains (and beer) (3) and understanding the response of plants to climate change (4).

Translating findings from one species to another is an important aspect of plant functional genomics and it has just become easier with the development of the Gramene database.

The Gramene database is an integrated resource for comparative genome and functional analysis in plants (Figure 3). The database provides agricultural researchers and plant breeders with valuable biological information on genomes and plant pathways of numerous crops and model species, thus enabling powerful comparisons across species.

Click on the to explore the Gramene homepage in more detail. 

Figure 3 Gramene homepage with its two main frameworks: genomes and pathways.

Through its two main frameworks, genomes (collaboration with Ensembl Plants) and pathways (Plant Reactome), Gramene provides online resources for visualising and comparing plant genomes and biological pathways (Figure 3).

As of February 2025, the current release of Gramene contains 150 reference genomes including: rice, maize, wheat, barley, soybean, Arabidopsis, Brassicas, poplar, medicago, tomato, potato, banana, cocoa, peach, grapevine, Amborella, spikemoss and algae. In addition to curated rice pathways, Plant Reactome incorporates pathway projections to 130 plant species, including two wild peanut ancestors and the common bean.