Plant Provides Genetic Map

Scientists have deciphered for the first time the entire genetic makeup of a plant, hailing the breakthrough as a milestone in genetics that will accelerate efforts to grow better food and identify the drugs of tomorrow.

"From this point on, plant science will never be the same again and genetics will never be the same again," Mike Bevan, European coordinator of the $70 million international project, said in London on Wednesday.

Arabidopsis thaliana — gardeners know it as "thale cress" — joins the fruitfly, the nematode worm, 600 viruses and two dozen bacteria as organisms whose entire DNA blueprints have been revealed.

A rough draft of the human genetic code was unveiled this summer and is expected to be published soon.

The plant's genetic code is published in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

While the human genome reveals causes of ill health, the plant genome will show the impact of nutrition, said Peter Schroeder, former head of the Institute of Food Research and a member of the British research council that contributed money to the project.

"Bringing the two together gives us a fabulous opportunity to improve the human condition," Schroeder said.

The most obvious use for the new knowledge is breeding better crops, whether genetically modified or traditionally bred, the researchers said.

The advent of tailor-made crops that withstand more inhospitable climates, resist pestilence, need less space to grow and provide vitamin boosts is now closer, they said.

With the information gleaned from Arabidopsis, the genetic modification of crops — where a crop contains a gene from another organism so that it will express desired characteristics — will become more refined, precise, predictable and controllable, scientists claimed.

That should assuage many of the basic fears held by those opposed to genetically modified food, the researchers said.

Opponents fear that tinkering with the genes of widely planted crops will result in unforeseen health and environmental consequences that could interfere with millions of years of evolution and threaten the survival of already vulnerable species.

Researchers said Wednesday that the new genetic information could make those consequences better known.

However, the group Friends of Earth said the research showed governments had been premature in giving a green light for biotech companies to plant genetically modified crops.

"GM (genetically modified) crops need more time in the laboratory so we can understand the basic processes that we are interfering with. — This research shows how little we know and how much we've got to learn," said activist Pete Riley.

Researchers contend the Arabidopsis genome promises to offer more than just designer crops. In it, the researchers found that about 100 of the plant's genes are cloely related to human disease genes involved in deafness, blindness and cancer.

So far, the scientists know only what about 10 percent of the plant's genes do.

Arabidopsis is a common spindly weed, a close cousin of the vegetable family that includes cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage, and grows on the sides of roads across the world. That will make it easier for scientists to recognize genes important for surviving in different conditions — a trait useful for farming.

Simon Bright, head of European genomics at seeds and agrochemicals group Syngenta, says botanists now have a blueprint that could explain how many plants work.

"If you want to understand the processes in any plant target — be it trees or arable crops or medicinal plants — you will use the Arabidopsis genomic information," he said.

Arabidopsis has a tiny genome of 190 million base pairs of the chemicals that make up DNA. Rice has only a few times more. By comparison, the human genome contains 3.1 billion, while wheat, the most important crop for feeding the world, has a mind-boggling 16 billion.