Plants: Novel Developmental Processes

Plants represent a diverse group of organisms that have unique reproductive, developmental, and physiological processes. Although morphologically simple, plants have molecular genetic processes that are equivalent in complexity to those found in animals. Sophisticated gene transfer procedures, transposon mutagenesis in homologous and heterologous plants, and development of model organisms such as Arabidopsis permit almost any gene that is associated with an observable phenotype to be isolated and studied. These advances, coupled with general advances in molecular biology, now make it possible to dissect the molecular and cellular events responsible for controlling plant-specific processes.