A Wikipedia entry is also available. Some useful statistics: Small genome Extensive genetic and physical maps of all 5 chromosomes MapViewer. A rapid life cycle about 6 weeks from germination to mature seed. Prolific seed production and easy cultivation in restricted space.
Efficient transformation methods utilizing Agrobacterium tumefaciens. A large number of mutant lines and genomic resources many of which are available from Stock Centers.
Multinational research community of academic, government and industry laboratories. Such advantages have made Arabidopsis a model organism for studies of the cellular and molecular biology of flowering plants. TAIR collects and makes available the information arising from these efforts. View of Arabidopsis thaliana [Back to top] History of Arabidopsis thaliana as a research organism. The earliest report of a mutant that I know of was in by A.
Laibach first summarized the potential of Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism for genetics in - he did some work on it much earlier though, publishing its correct chromosome number in The first collection of induced mutants was made by Laibach's student E. Her thesis was submitted in , the work published in Learning Centre Asset. Related assets Products.
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Advantages of using Saccharomyces Cerevisiae as a Model Organism. As one of the simplest eukaryotes containing membrane bound organelles , and i Key traits of A. Consequently, we would expect stress tolerance to be less elaborate in A. Indeed, despite a very wide geographic distribution range, there are no reports of A.
In addition, several species in the sister clade of A. Calamine soils rich in zinc, cadmium and lead—commonly as a result of anthropogenic pollution—are readily colonized by A. In addition, there are some natural populations of A. Finally, populations of A. Above-ground Vorholt, ; Horton et al. These microbial communities can include commensals see Glossary , as well as various naturally occurring viral, bacterial, fungal and oomycete pathogens.
Arabidopsis possesses a wealth of general molecular pattern-triggered innate immunity responses Schwessinger and Ronald, and more-specific, effector-triggered and Resistance R gene-dependent, defenses against microbes Cui et al.
Their elucidation has extensively contributed to our understanding of plant defenses against pathogens. By comparison, we understand far less about how pathogens shape genetic diversity in A.
Once A. This is consistent with the general ecological strategy of A. Similarities have been noted between plant defenses and animal innate immunity. These relate primarily to the domain architectures of NLR nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat protein receptors see Glossary that function in the detection of biotic attack, and the programmed cell death that occurs as a host defense response Maekawa et al.
Arabidopsis possesses effective defenses against herbivory, for example by insects and snails, with an important role for secondary metabolites. Most prominently, a class of sulfur-rich compounds, called glucosinolates see Glossary , are converted to pungent and toxic breakdown products in damaged tissues Halkier and Gershenzon, Strikingly, this bears some similarity to the role of vertebrate iGluRs in fast excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system.
The fast systemic movement of electrical signals turns out to be of broader importance in plant responses to the environment. For example, upon exposure of A. These findings underpin the central importance of A. Metabolic properties are noteworthy components of natural history because they are likely to facilitate, constrain or even prevent specific adaptations in a given lineage sharing them.
By contrast, calciophobic plants contain Ca in the form of insoluble precipitates, mostly oxalates. In calciotrophic plants, leaf Ca concentrations are generally higher than leaf potassium concentrations, as is common in the Brassicaceae, Papaveraceae and Resedaceae families, but rare in other plant families. Moreover, the absence of adaptation to extreme osmotic conditions in A.
Finally, in association with the high sulfur content of glucosinolates, the Brassicaceae exhibit an active sulfur metabolism and a comparably elevated requirement for sulfate as a nutrient in the soil Marschner, More data are required for future comparisons between A. Arabidopsis thaliana , a well-established model in molecular genetics and plant cell biology, is progressively being adopted by ecologists and evolutionary biologists, who require far more information on the sites of origin of natural accessions than is contained in the written records of the earlier collections.
Insights into the molecular functions of a multitude of individual genes, as well as the elucidation of biosynthetic pathways and regulatory networks in A.
The successful transfer of more complex molecular knowledge from A. Future advances in several disciplines will thus involve, for example, an improved understanding of the diversity of abiotic environments where A. Recently published work highlights the ecological relevance and evolutionary consequences of the relationships between local temperature profiles, plant immunity and hybrid fitness in the field Chae et al.
In contrast to some endemic and highly specialized plant species among its closest relatives, A. To understand the genetic diversity between and within populations of A. To investigate the natural history of the species closely related to A. To explore the vast between- and within-species phenotypic variation in the sister clade of A.
This will additionally provide key insights into the natural history of A. However, the natural history of A. Comparative approaches studying A. Yet our knowledge of the natural history of the species in the sister clade of A. Finally, in some cases, it may become relevant to apply the concept of natural history not exclusively at the species level, but also, for example, at the broader genus scale or at the smaller population scale. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
I apologize to all colleagues whose important work was not cited here because of restrictions in space. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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A better understanding of the natural history of model organisms will increase their value as model systems and also keep them at the forefront of research.
Essays on the wild lives of model organisms, from Arabidopsis to the zebrafish. How fast the brain and muscles can respond to information about prey location constrains visual and echolocating predators in similar ways.
Cited 26 Views 20, Annotations Open annotations. The current annotation count on this page is being calculated. Cite this article as: eLife ;4:e doi: Figure 1. Download asset Open asset. Figure 2.
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