Isolation and characterization of an Arabidopsis bushy and dwarf mutant

Apical dominance is a phenomenon that the growth of axillary meristems is inhibited by the primary shoot or inflorescence. Recent researches have begun to reveal the molecular mechanisms of apical dominance by isolating and identifying mutants with altered apical dominance. Here we report isolation of a bushy and dwarf 1 (bud1) mutant from Arabidopsis thaliana L. through a T-DNA tagging approach. The phenotypes of bul1 plants include loss of apical dominance, reduced plant size and dwarfism, suggesting that the bud1 mutant may be involved in auxin metabolism, transport or signalling. Using a reporter gene driven by an auxin-responsive promoter, we found that the expression pattern of auxin response element was altered in bud1. The auxin sensitivity and transport assay indicates that these two processes are normal in bud1. These results suggest that the bud1 phenotypes may result from an alteration in auxin metabolism. Genetic analysis demonstrates that bud1 is a semidominant mutant and cosegregates with a T-DNA insertion, which indicates that BUD1 gene could be cloned by iPCR approach.