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The genome sequence of the model dicotyledonous plant Arabidopsis
thaliana was completed in December 2000, and is available in the public
domain through the Internet (www.arabidopsis.org). This is a tremendous
resource for scientists interested in plant biology and specifically those
interested in the host response to pathogens. For instance, out of the
approximately 26 000 predicted genes there are an unexpectedly high number of
regulatory and defence genes (17% and 12%, respectively). Only about 10% of all
the genes have been studied experimentally. One approach that can be followed
is to ‘mine' the database using basic Internet tools to search for genes with a
specific function. As an example, the identification of the anti-fungal polygalacturonase
inhibiting protein (pgip) gene will be illustrated here. The search
revealed two pgip genes in tandem and lays the groundwork for functional
studies.

South African Journal of Botany
2004, 70(1): 173–180