Utilisation des mutations induites pour l'étude de l'embryogenèse chez le haricot Phaseolus vulgaris L. et deux plantes modèles Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. et Zea mays L.

Abstract

Use of induced mutations in embryogenesis study in bean Phaseolus vulgaris L. and two model plants, Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. and Zea mays L.. Breeding of common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L., through interspecific hybridizations with the species Phaseolus coccineus L. and Phaseolus polyanthus Greenm. as female parents leads to the abortion of immature embryos. Identification of genes required for embryo development could partly explain the abortion of hybrid embryos; induced mutations could thus be an alternative to identify key genes involved in Phaseolus embryogenesis. This paper is a review which shows a few examples of the use of induced mutations in the identification of essential genes for embryogenesis in two model plants, Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heyhn. for dicots and Zea mays L. for monocots. In these two species, embryo development mutants have been isolated using insertional mutagenesis and chemical mutagenesis with Ethyl Methane Sulfonate (EMS). Arabidopsis embryo mutants are affected in apical-basal axis polarity, radial pattern and in post-embryonic stages. Some Arabidopsis embryo mutants are defected in auxin signalisation. In maize, defective kernel (dek) mutants are affected in the embryo and the endosperm, while in embryo specific (emb) mutants, only the embryo is affected. In common bean, plants deficient in seed development were isolated using EMS mutagenesis. Embryos inside the seeds fail to growth at different stages of development and show abnormalities mainly in the suspensor and the cotyledons