Arabidopsis mutants may represent recombinant introgression lines

Objectives: It is a common practice in Arabidopsis to transfer a mutation generated in one genetic background to other genetic background via crossing. However, the drawback of this methodology is unavoidable presence of genomic fragments from the donor parent being often replacing desirable genomic fragments of the recurrent parent. Here, we highlighted problem of Arabidopsis mutants being recombinant introgression lines that can lead to unreliable and misinterpreted results. Results: We studied the regulation of low copy number transposable elements Tag1 and Evelknievel (EK), located at the end of the bottom arm of chromosome 1 and both are present in the Arabidopsis Landsberg erecta (Ler) but not in Columbia (Col) ecotype. Using various epigenetic mutants (cmt3, ddm1, kyp2, ago4, rdr2 hen1 etc.), we found that certain mutants in the Ler background are deficient of Tag1 or EK or both and represent recombinant introgression lines whereby chromosomal regions from Col have been recombined into the Ler genome. Our data support a recent proposal calling for formulating standards for authentication of plant lines that are used in plant research. Most important is to verify that a given trait or genomic locus under study is correctly identified, particularly when using mutants generated by crossing.