TILLING (Targetting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes) Technology for

Abstract

The present review describes TILLING (Targetting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes) which is a general reversegenetic strategy that works with a mismatch-specific endonuclease to detect induced or natural DNA polymorphisms in genes of interest. With high-throughput TILLING, rapid and low-cost discovery of induced point mutations in populations of chemically mutagenized individuals from diverse organisms becomes possible. Other advantages are its independence of genome size, reproductive system or generation time. TILLING yields a traditional allelic series of point mutations which make it valuable for essential genes, where sublethal alleles are required for phenotypic analysis. Current advantages of TILLING have made it an appropriate choice for the detection of both induced and natural variation in several plant species. Here, we review recent progress in this technology for the researchers of plant mutation analysis and genomics era