Thale cress facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Thale cress
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Brassicaceae
Genus:	Arabidopsis
Binomial name
Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh

Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. It is widely used as a model organism in plant genetics. Arabidopsis is a member of the mustard (Brassicaceae) family, which includes cultivated species such as cabbage and radish.

It was the first plant genome to be sequenced, completed in 2000 by the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative. The most up-to-date version of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome is maintained by The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR).

Much work has been done to find out what its 27,000 genes and 35,000 proteins do. Arabidopsis is a popular tool for understanding the molecular biology of many plant traits, including flower development and light sensing.

Images for kids

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  Botanical illustration

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  Scanning electron micrograph of a trichome, a leaf hair of A. thaliana, a unique structure made of a single cell

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  A double-flower mutant of arabidopsis, first documented in 1873

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  Components of pathogen recognition in A. thaliana A schematic of PAMP-triggered immunity, to be specific recognition of flagellin by FLS2 (top left), effector-triggered immunity depicted through the recognition of avrRpt2 by RPS2 through RIN4 (top-right), microscopic view of callose deposition in an A. thaliana leaf (bottom left), an example of no hypersensitive response (HR), top, and HR in A. thaliana leaves (bottom right)

See also

In Spanish: Arabidopsis thaliana para niños