Plant genomics: present state and a perspective on future developments.

The year 2001 may well be called the Year of the Human Genome. Less in the limelight, but equally exciting for plant scientists, is the rapid progress in plant genomics. With relatively modest resources, a lot has been achieved. The Arabidopsis genomic sequence (125 megabases [Mb]) is essentially finished, and rice sequencing is progressing rapidly. For many species, expressed sequence tag (EST) resources are plentiful, allowing broad inter-specific comparisons. At the same time, development of integrated physical-genetic maps for large-genome crop species is not progressing as rapidly as desired, while resources for the complete sequencing of these crops are not likely to become available. Some important plant genomes are so large that their complete sequencing may not be practical for many years. Significant plant genome research is concentrated in industry, and not freely available, creating some frustration in the academic community. Growing interest is anticipated in the development of metabolic profiling technologies, RNA profiling, proteomics and integrated systems approaches to plant biology.