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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #211245
Title: Emerging Technologies: An Opportunity for Weed Biology Research

Author
item Anderson, James

Submitted to: Weed Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/2/2007
Publication Date: 3/1/2008
Citation: Anderson, J.V. 2008. Emerging Technologies: An Opportunity for Weed Biology Research. Weed Science. 56:281-282.

Interpretive Summary: Emerging technologies are slowly being incorporated into the study of weed biology but not as rapidly as in most fields of animal and plant research. The main reasons for not incorporating these emerging technologies more rapidly appear to involve cost, and a general lack of knowledge about how they could be used to advance our understanding of weed biology. However, the cost of using modern technologies is decreasing and at some point will not be the limiting factor precluding weed scientists from incorporating them into their research programs. Consequently, now is the time to learn the principles associated with these technologies so that knowledge will not be the limiting factor when these technologies become readily available. The main objective of the Emerging Technologies Symposium at the 2007 WSSA Annual Meeting was to provide the weed science community with the principles behind emerging technologies and how they can be used to study weed biology. Specifically, aspects and applications related to genomic database development, microarrays, bioinformatics, real-time PCR, marker development, and proteomics were presented. These technologies have already been used to make significant advances to our understanding of animal and plant biology and are expected to be equally beneficial within the weed science community.

Technical Abstract: The main objective of the Emerging Technologies Symposium at the 2007 WSSA Annual Meeting was to provide the weed science community with the principles behind emerging technologies and how they can be used to study weed biology. Specifically, aspects and applications related to genomic database development, microarrays, bioinformatics, real-time PCR, marker development, and proteomics were presented. These technologies have already been used to make significant advances to our understanding of animal and plant biology and are expected to be equally beneficial within the weed science community.