Global TILLING Projects

Induced mutation and natural nucleotide variation are powerful tools for probing gene function and improving traits in plants. Traditional mutagenesis has been widely used in forward genetic strategies and has led to the release of over 2,000 mutant plant varieties. Mutagens such as ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) cause stable point mutations and thus produce an allelic series of truncation and missense changes that can provide a range of phenotypes. TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) uses traditional mutagenesis and nucleotide polymorphism discovery methods for a reverse genetic strategy that is high in throughput, low in cost, and applicable to most organisms. In less than a decade, TILLING has moved from a proof of concept to a well-accepted reverse genetic method that has been applied to over 20 different species. Large-scale TILLING services have delivered thousands of induced mutations to the international research community. Advancements in new mutation discovery techniques promise to increase further the efficiency and applicability of the TILLING method. Here, we review the progress in TILLING and describe the work of the Plant Breeding Unit of the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme to establish TILLING platforms for banana, cassava, and rice. (author)