TILLING (Targetting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes) Technology for Plant Functional Genomics

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.