Trichome Development in Arabidopsis thaliana. I. T-DNA Tagging of the GLABROUS1 Gene

Progeny from a transformed Arabidopsis plant (produced by the Agrobacterium-mediated seed transformation procedure) were found to be segregating for an altered trichome phenotype. The mutant plants have normal leaf trichomes but completely lack trichomes usually found on the stem. The mutation is tightly linked to a T-DNA insert. Complementation analysis with genetically characterized trichome mutants revealed that the new mutation is an allele of the GL1 locus. The new trichome mutant has been designated gl1-43. DNA gel blot analysis indicated that the insert site contains a complex array of at least four tandemly linked T-DNA units oriented as both direct and inverted repeats. A genomic library, constructed using DNA from gl1-43 plants, was used to clone DNA that flanks the left end of the T-DNA insert. The availability of DNA from the region interrupted by the insert has allowed initial characterization of the wild-type GL1 gene and will permit the eventual cloning and sequencing of this developmentally interesting gene.