Arabidopsis thaliana is a model organism used to determine specific defense mechanisms of plant-pathogen resistance.

What is thale cress used for?

Widely used for studying plant sciences, including genetics, evolution, population genetics, and plant development. Although A. thaliana has little direct significance for agriculture, it has several traits that make it a useful model for understanding the genetic, cellular, and molecular biology of flowering plants.

Why is thale cress a good model organism?

A. thaliana is easy to look after compared with animal model organisms. It grows quickly, produces many very small seeds, has a small genome ~114.5 Mb and is genetically well characterised due to the volume of work being focused on this plant. ... thaliana a versatile model organism for use in the biology laboratory.