The value of Arabidopsis research in understanding human disease states

Although Arabidopsis thaliana is traditionally viewed as the key model organism for plant biology it is becoming increasingly clear that Arabidopsis represents an invaluable tool in our efforts to understand molecular mechanisms that underpin human disease states. A comparison of the annotated Arabidopsis thaliana and human genome sequences reveals that a high percentage of genes implicated in human diseases are also present in Arabidopsis. Although Arabidopsis and humans diverged 1.6 billion years ago recent studies have demonstrated remarkable conservation of protein function and cellular processes between these seemingly distant species. In particular, cellular processes associated with neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and the neurological disorder Friedreich Ataxia have been dissected using Arabidopsis.