The HEM Lines: A New Library of Homozygous EMS Mutants and its Potential to Detect Meiotic Phenotypes.

Genetic screens have been crucial for deciphering many important biological processes, including meiosis. In , previous forward screens have likely identified almost all the meiotic genes that when mutated lead to a pronounced decrease in fertility. However, the increasing number of genes identified in reverse genetics studies that play crucial roles in meiosis, but do not exhibit strong phenotypes when mutated, suggests that there are still many genes with meiotic function waiting to be discovered.

Suppression of Dwarf and irregular xylem Phenotypes Generates Low-Acetylated Biomass Lines in Arabidopsis.

eskimo1-5 (esk1-5) is a dwarf Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant that has a constitutive drought syndrome and collapsed xylem vessels, along with low acetylation levels in xylan and mannan. ESK1 has xylan O-acetyltransferase activity in vitro. We used a suppressor strategy on esk1-5 to screen for variants with wild-type growth and low acetylation levels, a favorable combination for ethanol production.

Large genetic screens for gynogenesis and androgenesis haploid inducers in Arabidopsis thaliana failed to identify mutants.

Gynogenesis is a process in which the embryo genome originates exclusively from female origin, following embryogenesis stimulation by a male gamete. In contrast, androgenesis is the development of embryos that contain only the male nuclear genetic background. Both phenomena are of great interest in plant breeding as haploidization is an efficient tool to reduce the length of breeding schemes to create varieties.