Plant biotechnology From genome projects to molecular breeding

Csaba’s research focuses on the functional analysis of regulatory genes in sugar, stress and steroid hormone signaling using genetic and biochemical approaches in Arabidopsis. Upon completion of the Arabidopsis and rice genome sequences and following the collection of vast amounts of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from crops, medicinal plants and trees, plant science has entered into a qualitatively new development phase. Researchers in this post-genomic era are convinced that the characterization of function and regulation of all conserved plant genes will be achieved by 2010. The ultimate goal is to gain an integrated knowledge on the temporal and spatial regulation of transcription, translation, protein interactions, proteolysis, metabolism, transport and so on, and to learn how these pathways control all events through the plants life-cycle. Plant science thus moves from analytical to integrative multidisciplinary approaches. This also means that new powerful technologies and accumulating knowledge are becoming equally accessible to plant breeders, geneticists, physiologists, anatomists, ecologists, pharmacologists and botanists. As illustrated by this issue, there are many intriguing developments in progress that exploit the results of genome projects leading to the gradual conversion from classical breeding to molecular breeding.