The project involves the isolation and analysis of mutants of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. . Working in small groups, students begin by isolating any of various mutants from mutagenized seedlings growing on soil or agar plates with or without selective conditions. Putative mutants are then transplanted to soil and allowed to set seed.
Students then design and carry out experiments to learn something about their mutants.
Through this Web manual students access the extensive Arabidopsis databases on the Internet to find information about, and perhaps even images of mutants similar to their own. For Instructors of undergraduate Plant Physiology courses I have included the text of a poster I presented at the Council on Undergraduate Research Conference at Bates College, Lewiston ME in 1994. The poster describes the pedagogical goals of the project, a semester schedule, and results from the first class that conducted the project. For students , this is a lab manual for learning about Arabidopsis. and how to grow it, looking for mutants, and getting information about them through the extensive Arabidopsis databases via the Internet. Using these databases one can find references to publications, and images of mutants similar to those isolated in the class.