Sequence and analysis of the Arabidopsis genome

The comprehensive analysis of the genome sequence of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana has been completed recently. The genome sequence and associated an alyses provide the foundations for rapid progress in many fields of plant r esearch, such as the exploitation of genetic variation in Arabidopsis ecoty pes, the assessment of the transcriptome and proteome, and the association of genome changes at the sequence level with evolutionary processes. Nevert heless, genome sequencing and analysis are only the first steps towards a n ew plant biology, Much remains to be done to refine the analysis of encoded genes, to define the functions of encoded proteins systematically and to e stablish new generations of databases to capture and relate diverse data se ts generated in widely distributed laboratories.