Meinke D W, Cherry J M, Dean C, Rounsley S D, Koornneef M
Department of Botany, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA.
Science. 1998 Oct 23;282(5389):662, 679-82. doi: 10.1126/science.282.5389.662.
Arabidopsis thaliana is a small plant in the mustard family that has become the model system of choice for research in plant biology. Significant advances in understanding plant growth and development have been made by focusing on the molecular genetics of this simple angiosperm. The 120-megabase genome of Arabidopsis is organized into five chromosomes and contains an estimated 20,000 genes. More than 30 megabases of annotated genomic sequence has already been deposited in GenBank by a consortium of laboratories in Europe, Japan, and the United States. The entire genome is scheduled to be sequenced by the end of the year 2000. Reaching this milestone should enhance the value of Arabidopsis as a model for plant biology and the analysis of complex organisms in general.
拟南芥是十字花科中的一种小植物，已成为植物生物学研究中首选的模式系统。通过聚焦于这种简单被子植物的分子遗传学，在理解植物生长和发育方面取得了重大进展。拟南芥1.2亿碱基对的基因组被组织成五条染色体，估计包含20000个基因。欧洲、日本和美国的一个实验室联盟已经将超过3000万碱基对的注释基因组序列存入了基因库。整个基因组计划在2000年底完成测序。达到这一里程碑应该会提高拟南芥作为植物生物学模型以及一般复杂生物体分析模型的价值。
