06-17-2014, 12:56 AM
Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana is the best studied organism among plants. In fact, I think it is one of the three most studied organisms overall (not including humans, the other two are Drosophila melanogaster and mice). It even has its own database of genetic and molecular biology data called TAIR (The Arabidopsis Information Resource). This database contains things like the complete genome sequence (finished in 2000), information about the gene structure, gene products, gene expression, genome maps, markers, publications, research community, etc.
Arabidopsis thaliana was in the focus of research from the early 20th century. There are several reasons why it is great for research. First of all, its genome is really small (one of the smallest plant genomes, around 155,000 kb) and diploid (even though polyploidy is really common in plants) with only five chromosomes. This makes things easier to perform sequencing and genetic mapping.
Another good characteristic of A. thaliana is its rapid life cycle and small size, making its cultivation easy and relatively fast (some strains need only six weeks from germination to mature seed). Moreover, its transformation is pretty simple. There is no need for tissue culture or plant regeneration because it can be easily transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which simplifies genetic experiments even more. Young seedlings of A. thaliana are semitransparent, making them well suited for light microscopy and live cell imaging using both fluorescence and confocal microscopy.
Basically, Arabidopsis thaliana has been used to study plant development and development and patterning of tissues. Also, as a model organism, it has been used to study genetics of plant species, evolution and population genetics. Research from it is also used for agriculture and for understanding of cellular, molecular and genetic biology of flowering plants, even though A. thaliana itself does not directly contribute to the agriculture. Moreover, since it is relatively simple to transform, it has been used to study gene regulation in plants, their immunity and infectious diseases.
Arabidopsis thaliana is the best studied organism among plants. In fact, I think it is one of the three most studied organisms overall (not including humans, the other two are Drosophila melanogaster and mice). It even has its own database of genetic and molecular biology data called TAIR (The Arabidopsis Information Resource). This database contains things like the complete genome sequence (finished in 2000), information about the gene structure, gene products, gene expression, genome maps, markers, publications, research community, etc.
Arabidopsis thaliana was in the focus of research from the early 20th century. There are several reasons why it is great for research. First of all, its genome is really small (one of the smallest plant genomes, around 155,000 kb) and diploid (even though polyploidy is really common in plants) with only five chromosomes. This makes things easier to perform sequencing and genetic mapping.
Another good characteristic of A. thaliana is its rapid life cycle and small size, making its cultivation easy and relatively fast (some strains need only six weeks from germination to mature seed). Moreover, its transformation is pretty simple. There is no need for tissue culture or plant regeneration because it can be easily transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which simplifies genetic experiments even more. Young seedlings of A. thaliana are semitransparent, making them well suited for light microscopy and live cell imaging using both fluorescence and confocal microscopy.
Basically, Arabidopsis thaliana has been used to study plant development and development and patterning of tissues. Also, as a model organism, it has been used to study genetics of plant species, evolution and population genetics. Research from it is also used for agriculture and for understanding of cellular, molecular and genetic biology of flowering plants, even though A. thaliana itself does not directly contribute to the agriculture. Moreover, since it is relatively simple to transform, it has been used to study gene regulation in plants, their immunity and infectious diseases.
![[+]](https://www.biotechnologyforums.com/images/netpen-pro/collapse_collapsed.png)