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Mutagenesis – the Key to Genetic Analysis

  • Chapter
Handbook of Maize

Mutagenesis is a major key to understanding gene function. Most chapters in this book take advantage of mutant alleles to advance the knowledge of maize traits. The chemical mutagen, EMS, has been particularly important because it has a very high efficiency and can be used in any genetic background. EMS also generates half-plant chimeras, which have interesting consequences for lethal dominant mutations. Although dominant mutants are often considered gain-of-function abnormalities, from analysis of thousands of mutants, it appears that most dominants mimic a set of recessive mutants. Examples in which the genes have been cloned demonstrate that a gene defined by a dominant mutation often functions in the same pathway as the gene defined by a recessive mutation with similar phenotype. We present an historical perspective of EMS mutagenesis and discuss frequencies of different types of mutations. Two types of dominant mutants that appear frequently and have recessive counterparts are described in more detail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, Curtis Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211

    M. G. Neuffer

  2. Dept of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2054

    Guri Johal

  3. Plant Gene Expression Center, USDA-ARS, 800 Buchanan St. Albany, CA, 94710

    Sarah Hake

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  1. M. G. Neuffer
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  2. Guri Johal
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  3. M. T. Chang
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  4. Sarah Hake
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Correspondence to M. G. Neuffer , Guri Johal or Sarah Hake .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602–7223, USA

    Jeffrey L. Bennetzen

  2. USDA Plant Gene Expression Center, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, CA, 94710, USA

    Sarah Hake

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Neuffer, M.G., Johal, G., Chang, M.T., Hake, S. (2009). Mutagenesis – the Key to Genetic Analysis. In: Bennetzen, J.L., Hake, S. (eds) Handbook of Maize. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77863-1_4

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