Seed genomics: germinating opportunities

Abstract

With the sequencing of theArabidopsis thalianagenome, the field of plant biology has made a quantum leap. The sequence information available to the community has greatly facilitated the identification of genes responsible for mutant phenotypes and the large-scale analysis of gene expression inArabidopsis. High-throughput laboratory tools for DNA sequencing (genomics), mutant analysis (functional genomics), mRNA quantification (transcriptomics) and protein analysis (proteomics) are being used to scrutinize this model plant. For seed physiologists, the challenge lies in translating this information into physiological processes in seeds from other plant species. Combining more traditional seed biology with the new high-throughput molecular tools should yield breakthroughs in seed science.