Embryo-lethal mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana: A model system for genetic analysis of plant embryo development☆

[摘要] Arabidopsisthaliana(Cruciferae)hasbeenchosenasamodelsystemformutantanalysisofplantembryodevelopment.Theisolationandcharacterizationofembryo-lethalmutantsofArabidopsisaresimplifiedbythefollowinggeneticanddevelopmentalcharacteristics:(1)Abortedseedscanbeeasilyrecognizedinbothimmatureandmaturefruits;(2)spontaneousorphysiologicalembryoabortionisrare;(3)individualfruitscontain30–60seedsandshowclearsegregationofnormalandabortedseedsinplantsheterozygousforembryo-lethalmutations;(4)matureplantscontainhundredsofseedsateverystageofdevelopment;(5)thegenerationtimeof5–6weeksisoneoftheshortestamongfloweringplants;(6)thediploidchromosomenumberis10,andalargenumberofmorphologicalmutantsareavailableforlinkagestudies;(7)plantsnaturallyself-pollinatebutcanbeexperimentallycross-pollinated;(8)thepatternofnormalembryodevelopmentisverysimilartothatofCapsella,aplantusedextensivelyfordescriptiveandexperimentalstudies;(9)embryoandovuleculturecanbeusedtostudythebiochemistryofmutantembryos;and(10)theisolationoftemperature-sensitivemutantsispossiblebecausematureplantsaresmallandviableoverawiderangeoftemperatures.ThisreportdescribesnormaldevelopmentinArabidopsisthaliana,strain“Columbia,”andoutlinesthesystemusedtoidentifyembryo-lethalmutants.Amethodofclassifyingembryo-lethalmutantsascellular,nutritional,ordevelopmentallethalsispresented,andthepotentialapplicationofthesemutantstothestudyofnormalembryodevelopmentisdiscussed.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）