THALIANA

Arabidopsis thaliana, commonly known as thale cress, is a small annual flowering plant in the Brassicaceae family. It is one of the most widely used model organisms in plant biology and genetics due to its small genome, short life cycle, and ease of laboratory cultivation.

The species has a genome of about 135 megabases organized into five chromosomes and contains roughly 27,000 protein-coding genes. The genome was the first plant genome sequenced, completed as part of the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative, with the reference accession being Col-0. The genome sequence and its annotation have facilitated extensive functional studies and comparative genomics.

The life cycle from germination to seed production typically takes six to eight weeks under long-day, optimal conditions, enabling rapid genetic studies. The plant is an annual with a rosette of leaves and delicate white flowers that develop into slender siliques containing seeds.

Arabidopsis has extensive mutant collections, gene expression data, and genetic resources. Methods include T-DNA insertion mutagenesis, EMS mutagenesis, and precise genome editing. The TAIR database curates genomic and functional information, and The Arabidopsis Information Resource provides accession, gene model, and literature data. It serves as a reference system for functional genomics and comparative studies across plants.

Because of its reduced genome and conservation of many plant pathways with crops, discoveries in Arabidopsis inform plant development, physiology, and responses to abiotic and biotic stress, and have implications for agriculture.