Screening Procedures

Go to: Laboratory Project Overview -- General Methods -- Mutant Isolation -- Screening Procedures -- Access to Databases -- Writing a Research Proposal -- Making Posters

Introduction
There are many different kinds of mutants that can be isolated. Some are easier to find than others depending on the type of selection used, the frequency of the mutation, and the extent to which the seeds were mutated. The following is a list of mutants that we will try to find this semester (Spring 1996). Details on what to look for can be obtained from the literature and will be explained in lab.

M2 seedlings will be provided during the first week of lab. They will be either growing on agar plates with or without selective conditions, or on soil. You will probably examine between 10,000 and 50,000 seedlings and may isolate 10 or 20 putative mutants. In order to determine the frequency of mutations of a given phenotype it is important to quantify the total number of seedlings examined. For plate screens, estimate the number of seedlings per plate and keep track of the number of plates examined.

List of Mutants
Following each mutant phenotype below is the gene symbol (gene symbols should be written in italics but are not here for the sake of clarity). When more than one locus for a given mutant phenotype is found, they are distinguished with a number following the symbol (i.e. ch 1). Use the Access to databases page to find more information about these mutants.

1. pale green or yellow - chlorina (ch)
2. long hypocotyl when grown under white light (hy)
3. short hypocotyls when dark grown - constitutive photomorphogenic (cop)
4. lack of root geotropism when grown vertically - agravitropic (agr)
5. developmentally abnormal cotyledons or roots (various)
6. growth on 2,4-D - auxin resistant (aux, axr)
7. ethylene (triple response) insensitive (ein)
8. necrotic lesions in the absence of any pathogens - accelerated cell death (acd)
9. anthocyanin deficiency - transparent testa (tt)
10. twisted petioles - tortifolia (tor)
11. early flowering (eaf)
12. wax deficient, shiny stems - eceriferum (cer)
13. iodine staining seed coats (M3) - starch excess (sex)
14. altered trichome development or distribution (gl1, hst)

Go to: Laboratory Project Overview -- General Methods -- Mutant Isolation -- Screening Procedures -- Access to Databases -- Writing a Research Proposal -- Making Posters

James Madison University, Department of Biology
Jonathan D. Monroe, PhD
Comments to author: monroejd@jmu.edu