The First Step
"It's quite a change to think that any of this is possible," Bennetzen says. "Six or seven years ago, we wouldn't have even thought about doing these genomics experiments."
Over the past several years, however, new laboratory techniques have been developed that allow scientists to make discoveries that just a decade ago seemed impossible.
The genomics revolution has been spurred in part by new automated machines that can quickly determine the structure of genes. "Before, it might have taken us two years to determine the structure of one particular genome," Bennetzen says. "Now we expect to do the same region in a couple of weeks."
Before genomics techniques were developed, if a scientist was interested in finding the genes that caused a certain trait, it was not unheard of for him to spend his entire career identifying those genes. That process required painstakingly comparing the genes of the plant or animal that had the trait with the genes of those in which the trait was lacking.
With genomics, however, scientists take a different approach. They use automated equipment to rapidly map out the sequence of all the genes in an organism. Then, in a step that is still somewhat painstaking, they go back and figure out what each of those genes does.
Although the gene sequencing of important organisms is obviously a finite activity, Randy Woodson, director of Purdue Universitys Office of Agricultural Research Programs, says genomics is a field of science that will be around for decades.
"The science of genomics isn't going to be over tomorrow," he says. "There will be a five- to 10-year period of intense activity, especially in the sequencing of genes. At that point, we will have come full circle and come back to a point where physiology and biochemistry and other sciences will be needed to understand the functions of the genes and how these processes work."
Bennetzen says that when scien
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Contact: Steve Tally
tally@aes.purdue.edu
765-494-9809
Purdue University
11-Feb-2001