Workshop on Functional Analysis of the Arabidopsis Genome: Project 2010 to be held at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California, January 13-14, 2000

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Biologists are in the midst of assimilating a new paradigm. After a generation of characterizing genes one or a few at a time, scientists now have access to the complete genome sequences of many bacterial species and several eukaryotes including the reference plant Arabidopsis. Biologists now envision the day when the complete genome sequence of their favorite organisms, or a proxy thereof, will be available in powerful electronic databases. Access to this information, and new tools that exploit it, will profoundly alter the ways in which we select and approach questions in biology. This, in turn, will directly impact the application of directed genetic methods to the improvement of economically important plants.An important and revolutionary new initiative -to understand the function of all plant genes by the year 2010- has been proposed by the community of plant biologists. Implicit in this mission statement is an endorsement of the allocation of resources to attempts to assign function to genes that have no known function. This represents a significant departure from the common practice of defining and justifying a scientific goal based on the biological phenomena. The rationale for endorsing this radical change is that for the first time it is feasible for plant biologists to envision a whole system approach to study of plant form and function. This whole system approach promises to be orders of magnitude more efficient than the conventional approach. We envision that once the efficiencies of genomics have been realized, within the next decade, there will be a renewed emphasis on problem-oriented approaches and an expanded emphasis on understanding diversity.The aim of this workshop is to further discuss the feasibility of commencing a federally funded project to determine the function(s) of all plant genes by the year 2010. The workshop participants will identify essential features that should be considered in any proposal for the establishment of a national program to initiate a systems approach to the study of gene function. The participants will discuss the role of individual investigator initiated research in an era where multidisciplinary centers are being established to approach complex research problems and the possible roles that individual laboratories and centers may play in this effort. This group will also discuss the possible impact that the "2010 project" would have on the progress of basic plant research as well as on the strategic interests of the United States as they relate to agriculture, energy and the environment. Finally, the workshop participants will discuss issues of coordination of efforts in the United States with similar programs already underway or being consider by other nations.