Overview

Like many other areas of biology, the study of plants—also called botany—underwent dramatic changes over the past 50 years. Two major and related trends were largely responsible for these changes. First was the intensification of research begun earlier in the century to look for the molecular basis of plant structures and functions; in other words, scientists investigated the chemical reactions that are involved in everything from how plants harness the Sun's energy to how they respond to invasion by disease organisms. The second major trend was the exploration of the genetic basis for plant characteristics and processes. The discovery of the structure of DNA, the molecule that contains genetic information, led to a great deal of research on genes, the pieces of DNA responsible for specific traits or activities in all living things, including plants. This essay will...