biostudies-literatureMitchell RACBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Councilvbaf079https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12098945biostudies-literatureUnknown5(1)<h4>Motivation</h4>Where experiments identify sets of grass genes of unknown function, e.g. underlying a QTL or co-expressed in a transcriptome, it is useful to know which of these genes are common to all grasses (universal) and whether they likely have monocot-/commelinid-/grass-specific function.<h4>Results</h4>A pipeline used data on 16 grass full genomes from Ensembl Plants to generate 13 312 highly conserved, universal groups of grass protein-coding genes. Validation steps showed that 98.8% of these groups also had gene matches in recently sequenced genomes from two major grass clades not used in the pipeline. Comparison with many non-grass genomes identified 4609 of these groups as likely of monocot-/commelinid-/grass-specific function. Both grouping of genes and specificity were defBioinformatics advancesIdentification of universal grass genes and estimates of their monocot-/commelinid-/grass-specificity.PMC12098945BB/K007599/1Mitchell RACfalseIdentification of universal grass genes and estimates of their monocot-/commelinid-/grass-specificity.<h4>Motivation</h4>Where experiments identify sets of grass genes of unknown function, e.g. underlying a QTL or co-expressed in a transcriptome, it is useful to know which of these genes are common to all grasses (universal) and whether they likely have monocot-/commelinid-/grass-specific function.<h4>Results</h4>A pipeline used data on 16 grass full genomes from Ensembl Plants to generate 13 312 highly conserved, universal groups of grass protein-coding genes. Validation steps showed that 98.8% of these groups also had gene matches in recently sequenced genomes from two major grass clades not used in the pipeline. Comparison with many non-grass genomes identified 4609 of these groups as likely of monocot-/commelinid-/grass-specific function. Both grouping of genes and specificity were def2025-01-01T00:00:00Z20252026-04-08T19:09:19.241Z2026-04-08T11:58:31.687ZS-EPMC120989454041765510.1093/bioadv/vbaf079