- guardian.co.uk, Thursday December 14 2000 03.27 GMT
Thalecress is a weed but it promises to trigger a new agricultural revolution: for the first time, scientists have unravelled the complete DNA blueprint of a plant.
Some 300 scientists across the world have spent £50m on a six-year hunt to identify the 116m "base pairs" that make up the genetic code of Arabidopsis thaliana, a cabbage relative.
According to a report in the journal Nature, researchers now have a toolkit with which to understand the planet's huge array of flowering plants. The information has been placed in a public database, free to researchers everywhere.
Mike Bevan of the John Innes Centre in Norwich said: "Genome sequence changes the way you do biology, so from this point onwards plant science will never be the same again, and genetics will never be the same again, because we have got the complete set of genes which make this small organism.
"What we learn in this little plant can immediately be applied to a wide range of other plants, and this even extends to the grasses such as rice, wheat and corn, which are the major food supplies of humans."
The genes have been mapped out but it is not yet clear what most do. However, researchers have found genes which in humans are linked to deafness, blindness and cancer. Other genes control growth, productivity and disease resistance.
So far researchers have recorded the complete genetic blueprints for 600 viruses, 37 bacteria, one fungus, a worm, a fruitfly and a human. British researchers yesterday claimed Arabidopsis as the most important yet.
Special report on the GM debate www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/gm
