Research emphasis in the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA is now more than ever before focused on basic issues. This is true at all levels and with respect to all commodities. Tobacco is no exception. This means, for example, that manpower and support will be increasingly directed toward investigation of fundamental processes in plant genetics, physiology, and biochemistry. Currently the most active areas of research in our laboratory are inheritance factors associated with organellar DNA, gene expression with respect to mechanisms of controlling protein turnover, and somatic cellular hybridization by protoplast fusion. In conformity with the ARS Strategic Plan, tobacco research by scientists in the Federal Government must have clearly targeted goals that are nonetheless long-term and high-risk. Novel means for manipulating tobacco leaf chemistry, including biotechnology approaches, are being explored and examples of these will be cited.