Gramene 2013: comparative plant genomics resources.

Gramene (http://www.gramene.org) is a curated online resource for comparative functional genomics in crops and model plant species, currently hosting 27 fully and 10 partially sequenced reference genomes in its build number 38.

Ensembl Genomes 2013: scaling up access to genome-wide data.

Ensembl Genomes (http://www.ensemblgenomes.org) is an integrating resource for genome-scale data from non-vertebrate species.

Functional annotation of the transcriptome of Sorghum bicolor in response to osmotic stress and abscisic acid.

Background: Higher plants exhibit remarkable phenotypic plasticity allowing them to adapt to an extensive range of environmental conditions. Sorghum is a cereal crop that exhibits exceptional tolerance to adverse conditions, in particular, water-limiting environments. This study utilized next generation sequencing (NGS) technology to examine the transcriptome of sorghum plants challenged with osmotic stress and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) in order to elucidate genes and gene networks that contribute to sorghum's tolerance to water-limiting environments with a long-term aim of developing strategies to improve plant productivity under drought.