Plant Sequencing 2011

As DNA sequencing costs plummet and throughput rapidly increases, the question is no longer whether we can sequence large and complex plant genomes, but how soon can we sequence them? Plants as model organisms for biological investigations such as domestication, genome evolution, developmental physiology, epigenetics, pest resistance, heterosis, quantitative inheritance, and comparative genomics, allow the relationship and understanding of genotype to phenotype correlations. Nevertheless, the challenge remains of how to convert this mass of data into knowledge that can be applied in crop breeding programs.