In this study, we describe a property of Gramineae genes, and perhaps all monocot genes, that is not observed in eudicot genes. Along the direction of transcription, beginning at the junction of the 5-UTR and the coding region, there are gradients in GC content, codon usage, and amino-acid usage. The magnitudes of these gradients are large enough to hinder the annotation of the rice genome and to confound the detection of protein homologies across the monocot-eudicot divide.

Working in parallel with the efforts to sequence the chicken (Gallus gallus) genome, the Beijing Genomics Institute led an international team of scientists from China, USA, UK, Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany to map extensive DNA sequence variation throughout the chicken genome by sampling DNA from domestic breeds. Using the Red Jungle Fowl genome sequence as a reference, we identified 3.1 million non-redundant DNAsequence variants. To facilitate the application of our data to avian genetics and to provide a foundation for functional and evolutionary studies, we created the 'Chicken Variation Database' (ChickVD). A graphical MapView shows variants mapped onto the chicken genome in the context of gene annotations and other features, including genetic markers, trait loci, cDNAs, chicken orthologs of human disease genes and raw sequence traces. ChickVD also stores information on quantitative trait loci using data from collaborating institutions and public resources. Our data can be queried by search engine and homology-based BLAST searches. ChickVD is publicly accessible at http://chicken. genomics.org.cn.

Rice is a major food staple for the world's population and serves as a model species in cereal genome research. The Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) has long been devoting itself to sequencing, information analysis and biological research of the rice and other crop genomes. In order to facilitate the application of the rice genomic information and to provide a foundation for functional and evolutionary studies of other important cereal crops, we implemented our Rice Information System (BGIRIS), the most up-to-date integrated information resource as well as a workbench for comparative genomic analysis. In addition to comprehensive data from Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica sequenced by BGI, BGI-RIS also hosts carefully curated genome information from Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica and EST sequences available from other cereal crops. In this resource, sequence contigs of indica (93-11) have been further assembled into Mbp-sized scaffolds and anchored onto the rice chromosomes referenced to physical/genetic markers, cDNAs and BAC-end sequences. We have annotated the rice genomes for gene content, repetitive elements, gene duplications (tandem and segmental) and single nucleotide polymorphisms between rice subspecies. Designed as a basic platform, BGI-RIS presents the sequenced genomes and related information in systematic and graphical ways for the convenience of in-depth comparative studies (http://rise.genomics.org.cn/).

Foods are frequently subjected to dynamic loading during harvesting, handling, transportation, and processing. Accurate prediction of dynamic responses of foods under these loading conditions requires better understanding of their dynamic visco-elastic properties. In this article, dynamic equilibrium was determined according to sinusoidal stress-strain. When a visco-elastic specimen is subjected to a sinusoidal varying stress, the resulting strain will be a sinusoidal response of the same frequency as the stress, out of phase by a lag angle. Experiments were conducted to measure the complex modulus of intact Daguanshan peaches and Luyu pears, the phase angle by which the strain lags the stress, and their relationship with initial pre-loading and vibration input power over a range of frequencies. Both the complex modulus and the phase angle increased as the frequency increased from 20 to 200Hz. Initial pre-loading had a significant effect on the complex modulus, but not on the phase angle. Vibration input power had no significant effect on the complex modulus and phase angle. The phase angle depends not only on internal friction but also on the inertia of intact fruit.