Of an estimated 30 million existing life forms constituting the earth's biological diversity and resources, around 5% have been discovered and described but most are merely known by names and a few key features for identification. Of these 5% discovered resources approximately 1% has been successfully developed and used by humans as food, medicine, as ornamental, cultural objects, and as industrial material.

In fact, we know so little about all life forms. Even those life forms that we are most familiar with still contain vastly unknown properties of which many are potentially of great benefit to humanity. The tomato plant is a good example. Tomato was once considered as a poisonous plant due to its close kinship with many poisonous life forms, such as tobacco, nightshade, and many plants of the family Solanaceae. Currently, tomato is consumed as a favorite food around the world, used as juice, drink, condiments, sauces, etc. and as an important ingredient in many populardishes. We have segregated and developed, including  gene recombinants,  thousands of varieties of tomato, each with distinct characteristics. We have done a lot abouttomato; but  we still do not know much about this life form.   In fact, recently, new and useful aspects of tomato emerged as reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in February 1999 that tomato contains high level of lycopene, a compound believed to have an antcancerousproperty, which helps reduce the risk of getting various forms of cancer, including prostate, gland, lung, stomach, pancreatic, colorectal, esophageal, oral, breast, cervical cancers, etc...

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