With hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public and private funds being invested each year into plant science research it is interesting that few life science suppliers of research products and instrumentation have aggressively moved to dominate this segment. The tools and techniques specifically designed for plant research lag behind those developed for animal systems, leaving plant researchers to adapt kits made for animal species to their systems. However, the rapid advances in genomic technology developed for studying animal systems have also benefited plant researchers. Indeed, the technology for cloning, sequencing, and the establishment of public databases has been applied directly to plant systems. For suppliers evaluating the segment's attractiveness, there are the unique challenges associated with plant research. This report, based on a detailed 26-question survey of over 580 scientists engaged in plant science research, suggests that the interests of plant researchers, as well as their needs, are quite broad. The sheer diversity of plant research complicates product development strategies by making it difficult to identify which tools for what applications are most likely to result in commercial success. Furthermore, the physical properties of plants also complicate the use and adaptation of techniques developed in animal systems. In particular, the increasing attention of plant researchers in genomics and the attendant nucleic acid isolation methods it requires are areas where this has been problematic. For much of the plant kingdom, where genome sizes can be up to five times that of humans, new techniques or products that will identify and concentrate gene rich segments of these genomes will be necessary before large-scale sequencing can be attempted. And given the substantial amounts of data that will be generated from these large genomes, suppliers will have to develop better data handling and storage tools. According to survey respondents, there is already dissatisfaction with the available databases and software tools. In addition, while suppliers might be meeting some of the needs of plant genomic researchers, respondents expressed a desire for more plant specific kits and reagents. Plant research appears to be largely focused on genomics, however, the range of techniques used as well as the diversity of the plants being studied by respondents suggest that the field will be branching out into other systems and other areas of research. New tools in a variety of areas will likely have a market, though the size of the market may be small for any individual product. Success in the plant science segment will hinge upon a supplier's
recognition that growth cannot be sustained only by selling existing products within the boundaries of the current applications that define the life science market today. The results of this survey indicate that suppliers must develop the foresight to spot unexploited opportunities and stake out a new competitive position. In the context of the plant science segment, such an approach demands a blueprint for developing the competencies that will facilitate dominance of this currently underserved niche. Report Highlights
Plant Biotechnology: Opportunities for Research Product Suppliers contains over 30 charts and/or tables and 20 cross-tabulations for the 26 survey questions (See Page 4). Below is a glimpse of the key findings derived from just a few of the survey questions: • "Improve crop quality" (61%), "increase crop yield" (51%), and "minimize susceptibility to pests/environmental stress" (47%) were the most frequently mentioned commercial applications of respondents' research. (Question 4) • Functional genomics (67%), genetic engineering (56%), and bioinformatics (51%) are universal approaches used by more than half of the respondents. (Question 6) • Gel scanners (90%), centrifuges (88%) and PCR machines (82%) are the types of lab equipment most essential to plant research. (Question 13) • A commercial kit for purifying RNA specific to the respondents' model organism was selected as the most "advantageous" (15%) of the various technologies listed. (Question 16) • Sigma-Aldrich (28%), Qiagen (19%) and Invitrogen (14%) are the suppliers most commonly associated with products designed to support plant science. (Question 17) • 25% of the plant scientists surveyed expect their lab budget to increase next year. 45% of these scientists anticipate an increase between 10% and 25% during this period. (Question 24) (electronic copy also includes 1 print copy) | 
