From Arabidopsis to rice genomics: a survey of French programmes

During the last ten years, Arabidopsis thaliana has become the most favoured plant system for the study of many aspects of development and adaptation to adverse conditions and diseases. The sequencing of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome is nearly completed with more than 90% of the sequence being released in public databases. This is the first plant genome to be analysed and it has revealed a tremendous amount of information about the nature of the genes it contains and its largely duplicated organisation. French groups have been involved in Arabidopsis genomics at several steps: EST (expressed sequence tags) sequencing, construction and ordering (physical mapping of chromosomes) of a YAC (yeast artificial chromosomes) library, genomic sequencing. In parallel an extensive programme of functional genomics is being undertaken through the systematic analysis of insertional mutants. This information provides a support for analysing other more economically important plant genomes such as the rice genome and constitutes the beginning of a systematic investigation on plant gene functions and will promote new strategies for plant improvement.