Study of Arabidopsis thaliana Patterns of Experimental Mutational Variability

A summary of results of prolonged genetic and physiological research initiated by N.V. Timofeev-Ressovsky and carried out based on the unique genetic collection of the mutants of the classical model object - Arabidopsis thaliana - under the leadership and immediate participation of P.D. Usmanov in the Laboratory of Physiological Genetics of the Genetic Department of the Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. The article contains the following: the summary of development of the Arabidopsis genetic collection; the results of the study of the Arabidopsis mutation variability; creation of the wide spectrum of mutant forms differing by their phenotype, the study of their genetic nature and physiological and biochemical peculiarities; the analysis of the genotypic variability of the photosynthetic apparatus characteristics in order to ascertain the mechanism of the photosynthesis genetic control and interrelations between the cell organelle (karyon, chloroplasts, mitochondrion). Based on the complex genetic, physiological and biochemical study of the mutant lines from the mentioned Arabidopsis collection, there have been established experimental model systems for ecological and genetic research, and the systems for evaluation of the impact of extreme factors and anthropogenic influence on the gene pool of plant populations and analysis of genetic mechanisms of plants adaptation.