More research is required, however, before this type of gene transfer becomes useful and practical. Another challenging area of basic biological research involves cell membranes. All forms of life have cells and all cells have membranes. Plant scientists are trying to understand the important cell activities that involve membranes. For example, living things need energy to survive, but they need cell membranes to use this energy.
Membranes also help move materials into and Out of cells.
Plant biologists want to understand how membranes work since living things could not exist without cell membranes. We are learning more and more about plant genes and what they do. Plants are complex living organisms. How a plant develops from a single cell into a complex organism with billions of cells is a problem that will occupy many botanists for years to come. The ease with which we can manipulate plant cells, compared to animal cells, makes plants an ideal model system for such studies.