Welcome to the former SeedGenes Project website, which presents archival information on genes with essential functions during Arabidopsis seed development. The original SeedGenes database was last updated in December, 2010. This archival version, composed of static web pages, was introduced without further additions or corrections in September, 2018. More than 60% of the embryo-defective (emb) and pigment-defective embryo (pde) mutants listed here were analyzed in the Meinke laboratory at Oklahoma State University.

NOTE: Some of the genes found in this dataset were excluded from later publications based on updated information from the Meinke lab and elsewhere. The original Query functions of the SeedGenes database are no longer available. Details on Syngenta insertion mutants can be accessed from the lists of genes and mutants presented herein, with images and flanking sequence files linked to SeedGenes Profile pages.

Please refer to a comprehensive review in New Phytologist (Link) that includes extensive supplemental materials and updated information on 510 EMB genes of Arabidopsis and the entire collection of 2,200 emb mutants and 240 pde mutants analyzed in the Meinke laboratory.

Other datasets from the Meinke lab focus on genes required for embryo and gametophyte development (PDF), 2400 genes with a loss-of-function mutant phenotype of any kind (PDF), and 200 genes with a dominant mutant phenotype (PDF).

This project was made possible through a T-DNA insertional mutagenesis program initiated by David Patton at Syngenta. Subsequent funding was provided by the NSF 2010 Program. Allan Dickerman at Virginia Tech coordinated database and website functions. Seeds for mutants described here are available through the Arabidopsis stock centers.

Please cite the following publications for the SeedGenes database and Meinke laboratory collection of emb mutants when utilizing information presented here:

Meinke DW (2019) Genome-wide identification of EMBRYO-DEFECTIVE (EMB) genes required for growth and development in Arabidopsis. New Phytologist. (doi.org/10.1111/nph.16071)

Meinke D, Muralla R, Sweeney C, Dickerman A (2008) Identifying essential genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Trends Plant Sci.13: 483-491. (PDF)

Contact David Meinke (meinke@okstate.edu) for questions about the SeedGenes project.
Allan Dickerman (dickerman@virginia.edu) maintains this archival website.