Scientists crack lowly weed's genome - with important implications for agriculture
Following a major international research effort, plant biologists hope to be able announce the successful sequencing of the full genome of the small weed 'Arabidopsis' in the journal Nature, by the end of this year. Their work represents an important milestone in genetics as plants have many genes in common with humans, which scientists hope will yield information beneficial to human medicine. Arabidopsis has become a laboratory favourite because it has a relatively short genome in comparison to other plants making it easier to work with, and because its genome undergoes subtle changes depending on its surrounding environment in the wild. Scientists hope they will be able to apply their understanding of the mechanisms controlling adaptations in a plant's genome under different environmental conditions to important crop plants. This is clearly of interest to the agro-industries as the research may produce important information on disease resistance, cold tolerance, growth habits and synthesis of vitamins, for example. The Commission has been involved in funding and supporting this world-wide project (including partners in the USA, Australia and Japan) for the last ten years. It s now following up its earlier investment with support for two consortia researching the gene function of the Arabidopsis plant. EXOTIC (Exon Trapping Insert Consortium) and REGIA (Regulatory Gene Initiative in Arabidopsis) are funded under the Fifth Framework programme (FP5) Quality of life and management of living resources programme, with funding totalling 11 million euro. Each consortium includes research scientists drawn from 10 EU countries (EXOTIC from 10 laboratories, REGIA from 29). Both aim to study where, when and under what conditions the Arabidopsis' genes are active (EXOTIC looking at 5000, REGIA focusing on 1200). The REGIA Consortium is specifically looking at areas such as functional interdependences among transcriptional factors (being the proteins that interact with both each other and DNA). Both consortia are looking to extend their work through links with national and international research projects, with the specific aim of ensuring that their results reach the relevant user community, with the results on target to be finished by 2003. 'The very important thing about these two projects is that they demonstrate a big EU commitment to the work that has gone into understanding this plant,' a member of the Research Directorate-General told CORDIS news.