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For the last quarter century, Salk plant biologists have focused their efforts on the ragged little mustard weed known as Arabidopsis thaliana. With the completion of the Arabidopsis Genome Project, they are now working on identifying the products and functions for all of its genes – knowledge that can be applied to agriculture and may one day help improve the quality and quantity of the world's food supply.
As the information is collected, it is compiled in a database that plant biologists refer to as a "clickable plant." The clickable plant database is a repository for all plant genes along with their functions, their interactions and information about how they are influenced by day length, temperature, water availability, and other environmental variables.
Recent Discoveries
- A genetic switch that controls how plants growing at different latitudes respond to light. This information could be used to increase the yields of agricultural crops.
- A gene that serves as the "master switch" for flower development. This finding has a variety of agricultural implications including the acceleration of flower and fruit production in crop plants.
- A gene that determines the patterning in plant shoots that form leaves and stems. This research could be used to create plants that produce larger fruits
Ultimately, the goal is to understand plant growth so well that scientists can, in effect, reprogram plants to adjust to any kind of growing conditions. This work has tremendous potential for both agricultural and the pharmaceutical industry.