Arabidopsis

Rockcress
Missing image Arabidopsis_thaliana.jpg (Arabidopsis thaliana) Thale Cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Brassicales Family: Brassicaceae Genus: Arabidopsis
Species
see text

Rockcress (Arabidopsis) are a genus of the Brassicaceae family. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains Thale Cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), one of the model organisms used for studying plant biology.

Contents

1 Reclassification of the Arabidopsis genus 2 Cytogenetics 3 List of Species and Subspecies 4 Reclassified Species 5 Sources

Reclassification of the Arabidopsis genus

Currently the genus of Arabidopsis has nine species and a further eight subspecies recognised. This delimitation is quite recent and based on morphological and molecular phylogenies by O'Kane and Al-Shehbaz, (1997, 2003) and others.

Their findings confirm that the species formerly lumped together as Arabidopsis were polyphyletic. The most recent reclassification moves two species previously placed in Cardaminopsis and Hylandra as well as three species of Arabis into the Arabidopsis genus. It also excludes 50 species that have been moved into Crucihimalaya, Beringia, Olimarabidopsis, Pseudoarabidopsis, and lanhedgea.

All of the species in Arabidopsis are indigenous to Europe and two of the species have broad ranges extending into North America and Asia.

Cytogenetics

Cytogenetic analysis has shown that the haploid chromosome number is variable and can be n = 5, 8, 13, and 16.

A. thaliana is n=5 and the DNA sequencing of this species was completed in 2001.

A. suecica is n=13 and is an amphidiploid species originated through hybridization between A. thaliana and A. arenosa.

A. neglecta is n=8 as are the various subspecies of A. lyrata and A. arenosa.

A. halleri is n=16 in all subspecies

As of 2005, A. cebennensis, A. croatica, and A. pedemontana, have not been investigated cytologically.

List of Species and Subspecies

• Arabidopsis thaliana (Linnaeus) Heynhold

Distribution: native range almost all Europe to central Asia, now naturalized worldwide.

• Arabidopsis suecica (Fries) Norrlin, Meddel.

Distribution: Fennoscandinavia and the Baltic region.

A. suecica is an amphidiploid. It is from a hybridization of A. thaliana and diploid A. arenosa.

• Arabidopsis arenosa (Linnaeus) Lawalrée,

A. arenosa subsp. arenosa

Distribution: Europe: native in Austria, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, NE France, Germany, Hungary, N Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia; naturalized in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia and W Siberia, and Sweden; absent in Albania, Greece, C and S Italy, and Turkey.

A. arenosa (Linnaeus) Lawalrée subsp.'borbasii

Distribution: E Belgium, Czech Republic, NE France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine. Doubtfully occurring in Denmark.

• Arabidopsis neglecta (Schultes)

Distribution: Carpathian Mountains (Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and adjacent Ukraine).

• Arabidopsis croatica (Schott)

Distribution: Bosnia, Croatia.

• Arabidopsis cebennensis (de Candolle)

Distribution: SE France.

• Arabidopsis pedemontana (Boissier)

Distribution: northwestern Italy and, presumably extinct, in adjacent SW Switzerland.

• Arabidopsis lyrata (Linnaeus)

A. lyrata subsp. lyrata

Distribution: NE European Russia, Alaska, Canada (Ontario west into British Columbia), and southeastern and central United States (Vermont south into northern Georgia and Mississippi northward into Missouri and Minnesota).

A. lyrata subsp. petraea (Linnaeus)

Distribution: Austria, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, N. Italy, Norway, Russia (NW Russia, Siberia and Far East), Scotland, Sweden, Ukraine, boreal North America (Alaska and Yukon). Apparently extinct in Poland.

A. lyrata (Linnaeus) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz subsp. kamchatica (Fischer ex de Candolle)

Distribution: boreal Alaska, Canada (Yukon, Mackenzie District, British Columbia, northern Saskatchewan), Aleutian Islands, eastern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Korea, northern China, Japan, and Taiwan.

• Arabidopsis halleri (Linnaeus)

A. halleri subsp. halleri

Distribution: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, N and C Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and S Ukraine. Probably introduced in N France and extinct in Belgium.

A. halleri subsp. ovirensis (Wulfen)

Distribution: Albania, Austria, NE Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, SW Ukraine, Yugoslavia.

A. halleri subsp. gemmifera (Matsumura)

Distribution: Russian Far East, northeastern China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

Reclassified Species

The following species previously placed in Arabidopsis are not currently considered part of the genus.

• A. bactriana
• A. brevicaulis = Crucihimalaya himalaica
• A. bursifolia = Beringia bursifolia (de Candolle)
• A. campestris = Crucihimalaya wallichii (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. dentata (Allioni) = Murbeckiella pinnatifida (Lamarck)
• A. drassiana
• A. erysimoides = Erysimum hedgeanum
• A. eseptata = Olimarabidopsis umbrosa (Botschantsev & Vvedensky)
• A. gamosepala = Neotorularia gamosepala (Hedge)
• A. glauca = Thellungiella salsuginea
• A. griffithiana = Olimarabidopsis pumila (Stephan)
• A. himalaica = Crucihimalaya himalaica
• A. huetii (Boissier) = Murbeckiella huetii (Boissier)
• A. kneuckeri (Bornmüller) = Crucihimalaya kneuckeri (Bornmüller).
• A. korshinskyi = Olimarabidopsis cabulica (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. lasiocarpa = Crucihimalaya lasiocarpa (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. minutiflora (J.D. Hooker & Thomson) = Ianhedgea minutiflora (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. mollis = Beringia bursifolia (de Candolle)
• A. mollissima = Crucihimalaya mollissima (C.A. Meyer)
• A. monachorum (W.W. Smith) = Crucihimalaya lasiocarpa (W.W. Smith)
• A. mongolica (Botschantsev) = Crucihimalaya mongolica (Botschantsev)
• A. multicaulis = Arabis tibetica
• A. novae-anglicae = Neotorularia humilis (C.A. Meyer)
• A. nuda (Bélanger) = Drabopsis nuda (Bélanger)
• A. ovczinnikovii = Crucihimalaya mollissima (C. A. Meyer)
• A. parvula (Schrenk) = Thellungiella parvula (Schrenk)
• A. pinnatifida (Lamarck) = Murbeckiella pinnatifida (Lamarck)
• A. pumila (Stephan) = Olimarabidopsis pumila (Stephan)
• A. qiranica = Sisymbriopsis mollipila (Maximowicz)
• A. richardsonii = Neotorularia humilis (C.A. Meyer)
• A. russeliana = Crucihimalaya wallichii (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. salsuginea (Pallas) = Thellungiella salsuginea (Pallas)
• A. sarbalica = Crucihimalaya wallichii (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. schimperi (Boissier) = Robeschia schimperi (Boissier)
• A. stenocarpa = Beringia bursifolia (de Candolle)
• A. stewartiana = Olimarabidopsis pumila (Stephan)
• A. stricta (Cambessèdes) = Crucihimalaya stricta (Cambessèdes)
• A. taraxacifolia = Crucihimalaya wallichii (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. tenuisiliqua = Arabis tenuisiliqua K.H. Rechinger & Köie, Anz. Math-Nat. Kl. Oesterr. Akad. Wiss. 7: 5. 1954.
• A. tibetica = Crucihimalaya himalaica (Edgeworth)
• A. tibetica (J.D. Hooker & Thomson) = Arabis tibetica
• A. toxophylla (Bieberstein) = Pseudoarabidopsis toxophylla (Bieberstein)
• A. trichocarpa Neotorularia humilis (C.A. Meyer)
• A. trichopoda (Turczaninow) = Beringia bursifolia (de Candolle)
• A. tschuktschorum (Jurtsev) = Beringia bursifolia (de Candolle) A. tuemurnica = Neotorularia humilis (C.A. Meyer)
• A. verna (Koch) = Drabopsis nuda (Bélanger)
• A. virgata (Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray) = Beringia bursifolia (de Candolle)
• A. wallichii (J.D. Hooker & Thomson) = Crucihimalaya wallichii (J.D. Hooker & Thomson)
• A. yadungensis

Sources

O'Kane Jr, S.L., and I.A. Al-Shehbaz. (1997) A synopsis of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae): Novon. 7 323–327.

Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan A., O'Kane, Steve L. (2002) Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae) The Arabidopsis Book : - pp.1-22. online version (http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-document&issn=1543-8120&volume=006&issue=01&page=0001)

O'Kane Jr, S.L., and I.A. Al-Shehbaz. (2003) Phylogenetic position and generic limits of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae) based on sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 90 (4): 603-612 2003