The project jointly promoted by the United States, the European Union and Japan has begun to bear fruit. The genetic map of the Arabidopsis thaliana plant has been presented, a milestone for researchers, as it is the most accurate in history.
Maps that are published with great repercussion in the race of the genome, like the human, are not as accurate as they are said. But it seems that the works with the plant of Arabidopsis thaliana are very advanced, as noted yesterday at least those responsible for the Project Arabidopsis Genoma. The results of the work begun almost ten years ago were published.
They have not made a mere sequence of the DNA chain, but in addition to the ordered information they have managed to know the function of many proteins. It is no wonder that Arabidopsis thaliana has been used since 1980 as a model of understanding biochemistry, physiology and plant development.
Plant model
The plant Arabidopsis thaliana reproduces quickly and abundantly and has a small genome. Its size is one hundred times smaller than corn or soy, so it is appropriate for the laboratory. Superficially, crop research can mean faster applications. However, these are greater both physically and in genomic terms. In addition, having the same genes as other plants makes Arabidopsis research very useful. The genetic
map that has been released is the most comprehensive obtained to date, and along with the claim that the genome has been decoded, some data of interest have been published. For example, Arabidopsis has more duplicate genes than it imagined, as in the human genome. A total of 26,000 genes have been identified, but those that are different do not reach 15,000. This has been a surprise for researchers, who chose it as a genetic model for having few duplicates. But the surprise has served to learn: gene duplication does not serve to equalize errors, it has another meaning. The meaning remains mystery.
Similar genomes
Taking into account the genome of this plant, the genetic basis of differences and equality between pluricellular organisms has been shown for researchers. It has been observed that most of the genes of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana are equivalent in the worm C. elegans and in the fly Drosophila melanogaster. The diversity of living things is not due to great genetic differences. The question is how the same genes are organized and how their orders are carried out. And the order influences this case. The
genetic map has also helped to establish the biochemical characteristics of plants. Genes assigned to specific plant functions have been identified. On the one hand, it will allow to genetically analyze the mechanisms responsible for the basic transformation of energy and, on the other, to know the origin of other substances synthesized by plants. These substances cannot be produced by animals. Among them are, for example, those that give odor and color to plants, but also many others that humans use as medicines.
It seems that there is genome, now comes the turn of proteins. From now on we want to analyze the role of each of the proteins of Arabidopsis.
Analysis. Bego
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