Why do we use Arabidopsis as a model organism in plant cell,
molecular, genetic, human health, and evolutionary research?
Arabidopsis is widely used by plant molecular geneticists to study both basic and applied problems. Most results can be extended to larger field species for applicaitons in forestry, ecological restoration, and agriculture.
Arabidopsis thaliana is plant in the Crucifer family, and is related to Broccoli or cauliflower. Its common name is thale cress.
Arabidopsis has a small, completely sequenced genome of 124,000,000 bp/haploid copy. And yet Arabidopsis has a full complement of higher plant genes-about 30,000.
100-500 plants can be grown through their life cycle in a 8x12" flat of soil.
Availability of point & insertion mutants, & RNAi knockdowns
Easily transformed and regenerated
Short life cycle and prolific seed production (~10,000 seeds/plant)Solid literature of published data and scientific concepts from which new ideas can be formulated and tested