Arabidopsis DNA Methylation Mutants

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9604972 Richards Technical Mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana which have a decrease in DNA methylation (ddm) were isolated and characterized earlier. The ddml mutant has only about 30% of the wild type methylcytosine although it has wild type levels of methyl transferase. Moreover, it has been found that if these mutants are continuously selfed, progressive abnormalities appear. One such abnormality was reduced plant size and apical dominance (ball). The ball mutation, which is stable, has been mapped to a genome site different than the ddml mutation. During the tenure of this project, the DDMl gene will be isolated and characterized. Additionally, the BAL locus will be isolated by a map-based cloning approach and characterized at a molecular level. The phenotypic, genetic, biochemical and molecular analysis of ddm2 mutants will also continue. Non-technical It has been observed that there are described genetic phenomena which cannot be explained by Mendelian genetics and suggestive evidence implicates DNA methylation. It has been difficult to document cause and effect but the information resulting from this work should provide greater insiqht into basic qenetic mechanisms.