Editing Arabidopsis (section)

==Status==
Currently, the genus ''Arabidopsis'' has nine species and a further eight subspecies recognised. This delimitation is quite recent and is based on morphological and molecular phylogenies by O'Kane and Al-Shehbaz<ref name=Al1997/><ref name=Al2003/> and others.

Their findings confirm the species formerly included in ''Arabidopsis'' made it [[polyphyletic]]. The most recent reclassification moves two species previously placed in ''Cardaminopsis'' and ''Hylandra'' and three species of ''[[Arabis]]'' into ''Arabidopsis'', but excludes 50 that have been moved into the new genera ''[[Beringia (plant)|Beringia]], [[Crucihimalaya]], [[Ianhedgea]], [[Olimarabidopsis]]'', and ''[[Pseudoarabidopsis]]''.

All of the species in ''Arabidopsis'' are indigenous to [[Europe]], while two of the species have broad ranges also extending into [[North America]] and [[Asia]].

In the last two decades, ''[[Arabidopsis thaliana]]'' has gained much interest from the scientific community as a [[model organism]] for research on numerous aspects of plant biology.  [[The Arabidopsis Information Resource]] (TAIR)<ref>[http://www.arabidopsis.org/ The Arabidopsis Information Resource]</ref> is a curated online information source for ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' genetic and molecular biology research, and The Arabidopsis Book<ref name="The-A-Book">{{cite web | title=The Arabidopsis Book | publisher=[[American Society of Plant Biologists]] | date=2019-04-13 | url=http://aspb.org/publications/other-aspb-publications/the-arabidopsis-book/ | access-date=2021-08-14}}</ref> is an online compilation of invited chapters on ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' biology. (Note that as of 2013 no further chapters will be published.) In Europe, the model organism resource centre for ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' [[germplasm]], [[bioinformatics]] and [[molecular biology]] resources (including [[GeneChips]]) is the [[Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre]] (NASC) whilst in North America [[germplasm]] services are provided by the [[Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center]] (ABRC) based at [[Ohio State University]]. The ordering system for ABRC was incorporated into the TAIR database in June 2001 whilst NASC has always (since 1991) hosted its own ordering system and genome browser.

In 1982, the crew of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Salyut 7]] space station grew some Arabidopsis, thus becoming the first plants to flower and produce [[Plants in space|seeds in space]]. They had a life span of 40 days.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-species-of-plant-to-flower-in-space|title=First species of plant to flower in space|work=Guinness World Records|access-date=2017-03-10|language=en-GB}}</ref> ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' seeds were taken to the Moon on the [[Chang'e 4|Chang'e 4 lander]] in 2019, as part of a student experiment. As of May 2022 ''[[Arabidopsis thaliana]]'' has successfully been grown in samples of lunar soil.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Keeter |first=Bill |date=2022-05-12 |title=Scientists Grow Plants in Lunar Soil |url=http://www.nasa.gov/feature/biological-physical/scientists-grow-plants-in-soil-from-the-moon |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=NASA}}</ref>

''Arabidopsis'' is quite similar to the ''[[Boechera]]'' genus.