Perspective: PLANeT, an exciting plan to fill the knowledge gaps in plant phylogenomics
We are living at a time where insights into plant diversity, function, and evolution are being revealed at an unprecedented rate, thanks largely to the ability to readily sequence and assemble genomes. A new Perspective by Want, along with a large, international group of co-authors, sets out an exciting and ambitious proposal the fill in the knowledge gaps in the plant phylogeny, first by developing reference genomes for species in orders that have no such reference genome, then continuing to the family and genus levels. Building this reference library will support efforts across the spectrum of plant science, from crop improvement to natural-product inspired drug discovery to biodiversity conservation to addressing questions in fundamental plant biology. The authors stress their commitment to the principles of open science and their desire to democratize knowledge. They also address how they will develop AI tools to aid in the interpretation of these vast databases. They observe that their target completion date of 2036 is the 200th anniversary of the conclusion of the voyage of the HMS Beagle. Wouldn’t Darwin be amazed at what we are learning today? (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) Cell 10.1016/j.cell.2026.01.026
