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Arabidopsis: the original plant chassis organism

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Abstract

Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) has a past, current, and future role in the era of synthetic biology. Arabidopsis is one of the most well-studied plants with a wealth of genomics, genetics, and biochemical resources available for the metabolic engineer and synthetic biologist. Here we discuss the tools and resources that enable the identification of target genes and pathways in Arabidopsis and heterologous expression in this model plant. While there are numerous examples of engineering Arabidopsis for decreased lignin, increased seed oil, increased vitamins, and environmental remediation, this plant has provided biochemical tools for introducing Arabidopsis genes, pathways, and/or regulatory elements into other plants and microorganisms. Arabidopsis is not a vegetative or oilseed crop, but it is as an excellent model chassis for proof-of-concept metabolic engineering and synthetic biology experiments in plants.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (MCB-1614539 to JMJ and DGE-1143954 to CKH).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Cynthia K. Holland & Joseph M. Jez

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  1. Cynthia K. Holland
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  2. Joseph M. Jez
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Both authors researched and wrote this review.

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Correspondence to Joseph M. Jez.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Neal Stewart.

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Holland, C.K., Jez, J.M. Arabidopsis: the original plant chassis organism. Plant Cell Rep 37, 1359–1366 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-018-2286-5

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