Physcomitrella patens as a Novel Tool for Plant Functional Genomics

Abstract

The post-genomic era relies on a variety of high-throughput approaches for the establishment of stringent gene/function correlations (e.g. Holtorf et al., 2002a). One of the most powerful tools is reverse genetics, where the targeted disruption of a specific ORF leads to a loss-of-function mutation, which in turn establishes the biological role of this specific gene. Unlike all other land plants analyzed so far, the moss Physcomitrella patens exhibits a very high rate of homologous recombination in its nuclear DNA, making gene targeting approaches in this plant as convenient as in yeast or in ES cells of mice (Reski, 1998, 1999). We, therefore, have developed Physcomitrella as a novel tool in plant functional genomics.