3 ms·

Any reason they picked this specific plant?

siver_john 4y ago
It is often a model organism in plant studies, similar to mice in drug discovery. Mostly because it has a quick growth time, is fairly hardy, and just the fact it has been so well studied means that a lot is known about it. I am not a plant biologist but have talked to some and I've often seen it used in their work and this was their given reasons.
- jdale27 4y ago
  This is all true, plus as the sibling post mentioned its small genome size. The complete genome sequence is about 125 million base pairs, coincidentally around the same size as the other model organisms Drosophila and C. elegans, and only about 10x larger than brewer's yeast (S. cerevisiae). Interestingly I'm not sure if this was known when they started using it, since IIRC Arabidopsis was commonly used even before DNA was confirmed to be the genetic material in the 1940s. I worked in one of the labs that did the original sequencing and annotation of the Arabidopsis genome, and I can confirm that it was useful to be able to open the complete genome sequence file in an Emacs buffer without my Sun pizza box workstation breaking a sweat.
rzzzt 4y ago
Wikipedia says its small genome and short "cycle time" makes it an excellent test subject for various experiments. A photo depicts it growing in sidewalk cracks. Maybe they'll pick an orchid next time!
- tsimionescu 4y ago
  > Maybe they'll pick an orchid next time! I feel an Axiom of Choice joke in there somewhere, for the botany + set theory geeks out there...
transcriptase 4y ago
As others have mentioned it’s basically the foundation of plant biology/genetics. There are entire labs of the top minds in plant genetics working on similar lines of this single plant. Papers/PhDs are published every day characterizing arabidopsis genes, how they interact with other genes, and then how it all changes under different natural or artificial conditions. Because many plant genes are conserved across species, this translates to insights (or gives a good starting point) for researchers working on other plants (or more applied areas like crop improvement).
pvaldes 4y ago
Is a famous organism in genetics. It grows and blossoms really fast and is well known so you can watch a lot of generations in less time than other plants. Is also conveniently small, so you can culture a lot of specimens in your valuable laboratory space. Is also a Brassicaceae, that are VIP (Very Important Plants) in our agriculture.

It is often a model organism in plant studies, similar to mice in drug discovery. Mostly because it has a quick growth time, is fairly hardy, and just the fact it has been so well studied means that a lot is known about it. I am not a plant biologist but have talked to some and I've often seen it used in their work and this was their given reasons.

jdale27 4y ago
This is all true, plus as the sibling post mentioned its small genome size. The complete genome sequence is about 125 million base pairs, coincidentally around the same size as the other model organisms Drosophila and C. elegans, and only about 10x larger than brewer's yeast (S. cerevisiae). Interestingly I'm not sure if this was known when they started using it, since IIRC Arabidopsis was commonly used even before DNA was confirmed to be the genetic material in the 1940s. I worked in one of the labs that did the original sequencing and annotation of the Arabidopsis genome, and I can confirm that it was useful to be able to open the complete genome sequence file in an Emacs buffer without my Sun pizza box workstation breaking a sweat.

rzzzt 4y ago

Wikipedia says its small genome and short "cycle time" makes it an excellent test subject for various experiments. A photo depicts it growing in sidewalk cracks. Maybe they'll pick an orchid next time!

tsimionescu 4y ago
> Maybe they'll pick an orchid next time! I feel an Axiom of Choice joke in there somewhere, for the botany + set theory geeks out there...

transcriptase 4y ago

As others have mentioned it’s basically the foundation of plant biology/genetics. There are entire labs of the top minds in plant genetics working on similar lines of this single plant. Papers/PhDs are published every day characterizing arabidopsis genes, how they interact with other genes, and then how it all changes under different natural or artificial conditions. Because many plant genes are conserved across species, this translates to insights (or gives a good starting point) for researchers working on other plants (or more applied areas like crop improvement).

pvaldes 4y ago

Is a famous organism in genetics. It grows and blossoms really fast and is well known so you can watch a lot of generations in less time than other plants. Is also conveniently small, so you can culture a lot of specimens in your valuable laboratory space. Is also a Brassicaceae, that are VIP (Very Important Plants) in our agriculture.