Common use of Future Prospects Clause in Contracts

Future Prospects. With the presently available genome sequence of Arabidopsis and the tools of molecular biology, biochemistry and phytochemistry, it will be possible to approach the above mentioned problems in a novel holistic way. By integration of the mentioned expertise via the different ΄omics΄ technology platforms, it shall be possible to better understand the total network of plant responses to various external factors including the regulation via various signaling pathways. Thus, for studying the various interactions of the plant with different organisms, a systems biology like approach should be developed to learn more about the possibility of synergy of different compounds and proteins in defense and about detoxification processes in the plant and the attacking organisms. Metabolomics is an important tool for such studies. To have an unbiased view of all metabolites, HPLC, GC-MS, LC-MS and NMR spectroscopy based metabolomics to detect the compound or compounds responsible for the inhibition of the growth of fungi or inhibiting insect foraging seems very useful. Metabolite measurement combined with principal component analysis together with other advanced techniques such as proteomics and DNA microarrays will be the approach for identifying and characterizing signaling and biosynthetic pathways in defense responses. The results of such a systems biology approach will lead to the identification of genes involved in the defense of the plant or new targets in microorganisms or insects for developing crop protectants. Proteomics may also be useful in identification of proteins that are directly involved in defense, e.g. myrosinases or peroxidases. Eventually the integration of all these results should lead to recommendations for breeding programs and possibly to targets for metabolic engineering.