Comparative Sequencing of Plant Genomes: Choices to Make

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Abstract
In a world with >260,000 known plant species and finite sequencing resources, it is crucial that we make careful choices as to which genomes will be sequenced. It is clear that the selection of sequencing targets will critically affect what we can learn from comparative plant genome sequencing. There are three areas that we feel will benefit substantially from future genome sequencing efforts. First, comparative genome sequences present opportunities to study the evolution of plant genome structure and the dynamics of molecular evolutionary processes. Second, they offer an approach to identify genes and other functional elements and provide critical data for annotation of completed plant genomes. Third, plant genome sequences provide the community with an important tool to pursue gene isolation in new target species. Given these scientific benefits, several key aspects of species choice should be considered.