Identification of Arabidopsis rat mutants

Limited knowledge currently exists regarding the roles of plant genes and proteins in the Agrobacterium tumefaciens -mediated transformation process. To understand the host contribution to transformation, we carried out root-based transformation assays to identify Arabidopsis mutants that are resistant to Agrobacterium transformation ( rat mutants). To date, we have identified 126 rat mutants by screening libraries of T-DNA insertion mutants and by using various “reverse genetic” approaches. These mutants disrupt expression of genes of numerous categories, including chromatin structural and remodeling genes, and genes encoding proteins implicated in nuclear targeting, cell wall structure and metabolism, cytoskeleton structure and function, and signal transduction. Here, we present an update on the identification and characterization of these rat mutants.