Beautiful genes, beautiful plants

Societal Impact Statement: We all have reason to acknowledge plants，as humans, together with all other animals, breathe the oxygen produced by plants every second of the day, and we need the diversity of plants to maintain a balanced ecological environment. Plants also help us to understand the secrets of life and contribute to our understanding of ourselves. The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), announced in February 2017, has the ambitious mission to sequence “all life on Earth,” of which plants are of course a major part. Summary: Research into plants has led to many vital contributions to science in general. International collaborations are now the lifeblood of scientific research, particularly in the field of genomics. From humble, underfunded beginnings as the only developing nation in the Human Genome Project (HGP), China has emerged as a powerhouse of genomics research with major involvement in a whole host of genome-sequencing projects worldwide. Today, the cutting-edge international research projects are focused on genome writing and editing, allowing us to engineer organisms to produce bioproducts or to display a new suite of phenotypic characteristics. It is possible to bioengineer anything if all the constituent parts of the metabolic/signaling pathways and the regulation network are understood. Decoding the secrets of life is vital for enhancing our appreciation of plants, our understanding of how we can benefit from them, and our ability to protect them. Once again, plant science is driving our understanding of the world in general, which may enable us to protect both plant biodiversity and to create a beautiful and brilliant future for humankind.