Human life would be impossible without plants
© Jupiterimages Corporation.This fact was readily apparent to our agrarian
ancestors, whose lives were intimately
connected with the needs and rhythms of
the plants that provided their food, fiber,
shelter, and medicines. Today, with more
people living in cities and suburbs, the link
between humans and plants is less obvious—
but just as critical.
Plants form the basis of the food web
that sustains all other forms of life. Ultimately,
almost all the food that humans
eat—from the contents of a salad bar
to the grain-fed beef in a hamburger—
comes from plants. Plants provide the
cotton in our clothes, the wood in our
furniture and buildings, the rubber in our
tires, and many other important materials.
Plant sciences have
brought us a long way
People have long sought to enhance the
nutritional and aesthetic value of food,
to increase crop productivity, to shorten
the time from planting to harvest, and to
cultivate crops that are resistant to pests,
pathogens, and drought. Centuries of
plant breeding and selection for preferred
traits have helped us achieve these goals in
many crops, resulting in tremendous and
positive impacts on food security and an
improved quality of life. More recently, scientific
advances and genetic manipulation
have expanded the ability to make rapid
and targeted crop improvements.
But there is still much work to do—
and many new goals to achieve. Constantly
evolving plant pests and pathogens, global
climate change, and changing social needs
make plant sciences ever more critical.
21st-Century challenges
© Jupiterimages Corporation.Plant genomics has a critical role to play
in 21st-century agriculture, energy, and
environmental stewardship. For example,
Earth's climate is undergoing rapid
changes—a fact that will have profound
effects on where and how plants grow.
By increasing our understanding of how
plants cope with less water, rising temperatures,
and other environmental stresses,
plant genomics research can enable scientists
to develop crops that can withstand
changing climate conditions.
How can we feed and provide adequate
nutrition to a growing world
population? Can plants contribute to environmentally,
economically, and socially
sustainable sources of energy? How can
agriculture-related pollution be reduced?
Given these and other current challenges,
the "genomic era" has come just in time.
The increasingly powerful tools for genomic
research—in which scientists study
all of the genes in an organism collectively—
make plant research more valuable
now than ever before.
DNA, genes, and genomes
DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid, is the
molecule of heredity and provides the genetic
code for living organisms. DNA is made up of
biochemical units called nucleotide bases; the
order of these bases determines the nature and
function of an organism's genes.
GENES are sections of DNA that encode
the instructions for making proteins and other
molecules that drive the activities in the cells of
all life on Earth.
GENETICS is the study of the
inheritance of specific traits through genes.
A GENOME is the entire collection of DNA
in an organism, including all its genes, plus
noncoding DNA (sections that do not make
protein, but often have important functions in
regulating the activity of genes).
GENOMICS is
the study of genomes. In genomics, researchers
study an organism's genes collectively and look
at the interactions among genes and between
genes and the environment.
Image courtesy of the
Genome Management Information System, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory.
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The reach of plant sciences stretches
way beyond direct improvements to crops.
Plants can provide scientists with a window
to many types of biological phenomena
and help answer fundamental biological
questions. In fact, cells, nuclei, genes,
viruses, and other biological entities were
all first discovered in plants. Plant genome
science has significant cross-disciplinary
applications and has already spurred advances
in medicine, chemistry, and engineering,
in addition to basic biology.
This booklet highlights examples that
illustrate the achievements and promise
of plant genome science. It is based on
the National Research Council report
Achievements of the National
Plant Genome Initiative and New
Horizons in Plant Biology.
The National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI) is a
unique, cross-agency funding enterprise for plant
genomics in the United States. It was established in
1998 as a coordinated approach to advancing plant
science and its applications to address issues of national
interest. NPGI is coordinated by an Interagency
Working Group with participation from many U.S.
government agencies.
Achievements of the National
Plant Genome Initiative and New
Horizons in Plant Biology recommends steps to
expand NPGI and broaden its mission. Suggested
future focuses include basic research on economically
relevant traits in model and crop species,
deeper investigations into plant diversity and adaptation,
and expanded translation of basic science to
practical applications for breeders and farmers.
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This web page is based on the National Academies' educational booklet
New Horizons in Plant Sciences.
