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Scientific name: Arabidopsis thaliana
Common name(s): Mouse Ear Cress
Name as shown in Phylogenes: Arabidopsis
Ploidy: Diploid
Description:
Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as Mouse-Ear Cress, is a small annual plant that is a member of the mustard family. It has no agricultural value on its own , but has significant utility as a model plant species due to its small genome size, rapid life cycle and ease of use as an experimental system.
Arabidopsis is has the most well studied annotated plant genome and is extensively used as reference for understanding gene function in other plant species.
Reference(s): Arabidopsis Genome Initiative. Analysis of the genome sequence of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Nature. 2000 Dec 14;408(6814):796-815.
Links: The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR)