Rice is a staple for much of the world, as are grains like corn and wheat.
A collaboration among plant scientists and bioinformaticists at the University of Missouri, SDSC, The Scripps Research Institute, and other sites, under funding from NSF, has begun to demonstrate ways to focus efforts in the functional genomics of plants. Our Web resource site, PlantsP, is demonstrating the value and utility of bioinformatics for organizing functional research. I've tried it, and it's pretty bitter. A relative of mustard, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, Arabidopsis was nominated as a model organism a decade ago, when many plant scientists began to concentrate on it. The site contains a description of the project and participating laboratories, a bibliographic section, and links to various community resources.