PLANeT: Understanding and leveraging the genome of land plants for a sustainable future
Year: 2026
Type: review
Abstract: Land plants underpin civilization and planetary health, yet their genomic diversity remains largely uncharted. Current resources are unstandardized and scarce, lacking reference genomes for 95% of genera, 70% of families, and 51% of orders, impeding evolutionary and functional insight. We thus propose the PLANeT initiative, an international effort to generate high-quality, standardized genomes across the plant tree of life. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with genomics, we will decode conserved principles to advance fundamental plant biology, biodiversity conservation, crop improvement, and natural product discovery. Engaging around 100 labs to train 1,000 scientists, we will tackle pivotal questions for a sustainable future.
Source: Cell
Authors: Li Wang, Mohamed Amar, Carlos I. Arbizu, John L. Bowman, Charles H. Cannon, David J. Cantrill, Xiaofeng Cao, Shilin Chen, Xiaoya Chen, Xuemei Chen, Kang Chong, Xingwang Deng, Weinan E, Hongwei Guo, Chuan He, Peter Hollingsworth, Qing Hu, Hongzhi Kong, Ilia J. Leitch, Dezhu Li, Jiayang Li, Hongtao Liu, William Lucas, Eshchar Mizrachi, Mijoro Rakotoarinivo, Hai Ren, Loren Rieseberg, Jue Ruan, Rosa Scherson, Harald Schneider, Douglas E. Soltis, Hang Sun, Marcio C. Silva-Filho, Stephen Smith, Alex Twyford, Björn Usadel, Yves Van de Peer, Cássio Van den Berg, Rajeev K. Varshney, Lyderson Facio Viccini, Qingfeng Wang, Xiao-Quan Wang, Yadong Wang, Jonathan Wendel, Rod Wing, Gane Ka-Shu Wong, Yaowu Xing, Xun Xu, Nieng Yan, Huanming Yang, Shouzhou Zhang, Yuxian Zhu, Pamela S. Soltis, Detlef Weigel, Sanwen Huang
Institutions: Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Benha National University, National University Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, Monash University, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Peking University, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Botany, Southern University of Science and Technology, University of Chicago, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Shandong Agricultural University, Shenzhen University, University of California, Davis, University of Pretoria, University of Antananarivo, South China Botanical Garden, University of British Columbia, University of Chile, University of Florida, Kunming Institute of Botany, Universidade de São Paulo, University of Michigan, University of Edinburgh, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Nanjing Agricultural University, Ghent University, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Murdoch University, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Harbin Institute of Technology, Iowa State University, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, University of Alberta, BGI Group (China), Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation, BGI Research, Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Wuhan University, Max Planck Institute for Biology, University of Tübingen
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $11,400
Awards: G5771946274, G8558904374
OpenAlex ID: W7159802106