Screening Arabidopsis for mutants in mineral nutrition

Arabidopsis thaliana is a small herbaceous plant which is used as a model plant for defining the molecular basis of many plant processes. The advantages of this plant for genetic studies are its small, well-characterized genome, a short life cycle, large seed set and small seed size. The analysis of mutants of this plant has proved useful in understanding basic plant processes. To isolate Arabidopsis mutants in mineral nutrition, we have devised a method of screening based on X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRFS) analysis of leaves. We have identified three mutants in P and Mn nutrition after screening over 100 000 seedlings. These mutants show either excessive accumulation of P or Mn in shoots or an inabilty to accumulate normal concentrations of P.