It started--was it in the eighties--and it finally cost about $2 billion to sequence a human genome. It was a global effort. I think we were part of that, led mainly by the U.S. and the EU.
Essentially, genomics takes a very good look into the DNA makeup of an organism, whether it's a bacterium, a plant, or an animal.
The first point is to sequence that DNA. Essentially, it's like breaking it into its constituent parts. But knowing where the genes are and the location of those genes we believe gives you an understanding of whether there is a gene we know that is conferring resistance to a major disease, for example. Maybe it's present in a related species or in the wild. If it is, then you can work to bring it in. The tools are being developed so you don't have to cross it into a cultivar it and do it backwards. It takes you forever to clean it up. You can bring it in, in a much more efficient way.
We think it will increase the rate at which we can adopt traits. Also, the kinds of traits, like GMOs, may not be very good in terms of a single gene trait when you have a multiple gene effect, especially on diseases, which is what breeders say. Most diseases have a multiple gene effect.
It will also help with biodiversity. If we have species out there today in labs, in our gene banks, we cannot use them because we don't know how to make effective use of the trait. Genomics will be the way to go.