Genetic analysis of tropisms of Arabidopsis thaliana

  • K. L. Poff
Chapter
Part of the Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture book series (PSBA, volume 13)

Abstract

It has been evident for many years that genetic tools would greatly assist in obtaining a deeper understanding of tropistic responses. An intensive effort has been devoted to the development of these tools in two organisms, the fungus, Phycomyces blakesleeanus, and the higher plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. In both cases, mutants have been identified and characterized which have alterations in specific tropistic responses. These mutants have then been used to test and dissect the physiology of tropisms. Efforts with Phycomyces have been concentrated on blue light responses including phototropism (Galland and Lipson, 1987; Galland, 1990). The emphasis with Arabidopsis has been somewhat different; mutants have been described with alterations in phototropism and gravitropism. The purpose of this article is to describe some of the genetic tools that are now available in Arabidopsis and some of the progress which has been made using these tools.

Keywords

Arabidopsis Thaliana Gravitropic Response Fluence Threshold Tropistic Response Root Gravitropism 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1992

Authors and Affiliations

  • K. L. Poff
    • 1
  1. 1.MSU-DOE Plant Research LaboratoryMichigan State University, East LansingUSA

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