%0 Journal Article
%T Characterization of the basal angiosperm Aristolochia fimbriata: a potential experimental system for genetic studies
%A Barbara J Bliss
%A Stefan Wanke
%A Abdelali Barakat
%A Saravanaraj Ayyampalayam
%A Norman Wickett
%A P Kerr Wall
%A Yuannian Jiao
%A Lena Landherr
%A Paula E Ralph
%A Yi Hu
%A Christoph Neinhuis
%A Jim Leebens-Mack
%A Kathiravetpilla Arumuganathan
%A Sandra W Clifton
%A Siela N Maximova
%A Hong Ma
%A Claude W dePamphilis
%J BMC Plant Biology
%D 2013
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2229-13-13
%X We have considered all basal angiosperm families for general characteristics important for experimental systems, including availability to the scientific community, growth habit, and membership in a large basal angiosperm group that displays a wide spectrum of phenotypic diversity. Most basal angiosperms are woody or aquatic, thus are not well-suited for large scale cultivation, and were excluded. We further investigated members of Aristolochiaceae for ease of culture, life cycle, genome size, and chromosome number. We demonstrated self-compatibility for Aristolochia elegans and A. fimbriata, and transformation with a GFP reporter construct for Saruma henryi and A. fimbriata. Furthermore, A. fimbriata was easily cultivated with a life cycle of just three months, could be regenerated in a tissue culture system, and had one of the smallest genomes among basal angiosperms. An extensive multi-tissue EST dataset was produced for A. fimbriata that includes over 3.8 million 454 sequence reads.Aristolochia fimbriata has numerous features that facilitate genetic studies and is suggested as a potential model system for use with a wide variety of technologies. Emerging genetic and genomic tools for A. fimbriata and closely related species can aid the investigation of floral biology, developmental genetics, biochemical pathways important in plant-insect interactions as well as human health, and various other features present in early angiosperms.
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/13/13/abstract