Report on National Plant Genome Initiative

The National Academies in the United States has come up with a report on “Achievements of the National Plant Genome Initiative and New Horizons in Plant Biology” as a response to an Interagency Working Group on Plant Genomes to evaluate the National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI). The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies.

The National Plant Genome Initiative, set to celebrate its tenth year, is coordinated by the Interagency Working Group on Plant Genomes which is comprised of various federal agencies. The report concludes that NPGI has been successful overall by contributing to revolutionary breakthroughs in genome sequencing of plants, including Arabidopsis (a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard), rice, and soon maize. The committee recommends steps to significantly broaden NPGI’s mission to include “the basic biology of economically relevant traits in model and crop species, deeper investigations into plant diversity and adaptation to various ecological niches, and continued expansion of translation to breeders and farmers.”

The full report is available at http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/plant_genome.pdf