5. Conclusions and outlook
Development of biosensing devices is the main focus of many research groups and high technology companies. The extensive work done in this field is particularly due to the broad versatility of these biosensors. From probes to transducer substrates, from immobilisation to detection methods, from single to multi-analyte formats, this wide range of possibilities makes the research field very diversified and competitive. The use of plant-tissue and photosynthetic materials for the construction of biosensors is interesting not only in terms of development of new bioanalysis devices, but also as tools to provide information about the plant biochemistry and physiology and to better understand enzymatic and photosynthetic processes. Biochip technology is also of great value to study plant processes, e.g. growth and development, and responses to environmental changes, e.g. elevated temperatures and soil salinity. Genechips and gene expression studies derived from them will contribute to clarify regulatory mechanisms that appear as a response to viral or pathogen attack,hormone treatment or pesticide exposure, constituting a powerful tool for plant functional genomics.