Once we know what each gene does, we need to figure out how and why that function is important to the plant. We don't know how to do that now. Compared to more familiar plants, Arabidopsis is a simple organism. Rice has 425 million. Corn has 3 billion.
Wheat has five times more than corn.
But Arabidopsis contained some surprises, too. The mapping project revealed that 70 percent of its genetic code is duplicated in various patterns that remain poorly understood. Some repeats might serve as backups for important genes. Others may cooperate in complex functions. Scientists said the map enables them to knock out specific genes or gene groups and see what happens when they grow the plant again.