The PODB3 is maintained by a joint research project of 'Organelle Differentiation as the Strategy for Environmental Adaptation in Plants' (Project Leader: Professor Mikio Nishimura of National Institute for Basic Biology) started with a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan. Aims of this research project are; 1) to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying the differentiation, formation, induction, and interaction of organelles, and 2) to understand how organelle dynamics regulates integrated functions of individual plants against environmental signals. We expect that this project will provide perspective for increase of food production, production of functional foods and phytoremediation.