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

生物学家正在吸收一种新的范式。经过一代人的特征基因一次一个或几个，科学家现在可以获得许多细菌物种和几种真核生物的完整基因组序列，包括参考植物拟南芥。生物学家现在设想有一天，他们最喜欢的生物体的完整基因组序列，或其代理，将在强大的电子数据库中可用。获取这些信息，以及利用这些信息的新工具，将深刻地改变我们选择和处理生物学问题的方式。这反过来又将直接影响定向遗传方法在重要经济植物改良中的应用。植物生物学家提出了一项重要的革命性新倡议--到2010年了解所有植物基因的功能。这一使命声明中隐含的是对分配资源以试图将功能分配给功能未知的基因的认可。这与根据生物学现象确定和证明科学目标的通常做法有很大的不同。支持这一根本性变化的理由是，植物生物学家第一次可以设想一个完整的系统方法来研究植物的形态和功能。这种全系统方法有望比传统方法效率高出几个数量级。我们设想，一旦基因组学的效率已经实现，在未来十年内，将有一个新的重点，以问题为导向的方法和扩大强调理解的多样性。本次研讨会的目的是进一步讨论的可行性，开始一个联邦资助的项目，以确定所有植物基因的功能（S）到2010年。研讨会的与会者将确定在任何建立国家计划的建议中应考虑的基本特征，以启动基因功能研究的系统方法。与会者将讨论在一个多学科中心正在建立的时代，个人研究者发起的研究的作用，以解决复杂的研究问题，以及个人实验室和中心可能在这方面发挥的作用。该小组还将讨论“2010年项目”可能对基础植物研究的进展以及美国在农业、能源和环境方面的战略利益产生的影响。最后，研讨会与会者将讨论美国与其他国家已经在进行或正在考虑的类似计划的协调问题。

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.