Functional genomic technologies: Creating new paradigms for fundamental and applied biology

New technologies that analyze the behavior of thousands of genes in paralle l are creating, for the first time, a foundation of data for building integ rated models of cellular processes. This review discusses the general issue s of utilizing genomic methods in fundamental and applied research settings , using the study of stress responses and improvement of secondary metaboli te production as examples. A fusion of concepts from biological and nonbiol ogical disciplines, including mathematics, computer science, physics, chemi stry, and engineering, is required to address the theoretical and experimen tal challenges facing the field of genomics, and together promise great bre akthroughs in our understanding and engineering of cellular systems.