Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant Drosophila

✍ Scribed by J. Langridge

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 856 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.950161014

✦ Synopsis

Arabidopsis thaliaaa is a small cruciferous weed which grows naturally, mainly in Europe. Because of its qualities of small size, rapid growth, low chromosome number and self-fertilisation, I adapted it to aseptic growth in purified agar in sterile test-tubes. I found that it secreted various substances into the medium, but not in type or amount likely to interfere with the expression of biosynthetic mutants. Following X-irradiation of seed, I obtained a number of mutants, including several lethals. One lethal mutant I discovered to be deficient in thiamine synthesis. It was the first biosynthetic mutant to be found in flowering plants.