Ecology. Stalking the wild mustard

Arabidopsis thaliana is not just for plant biologists anymore. A few intrepid ecologists and evolutionary biologists are now touting its merits as a system in which to study the genetic basis of the traits they study. The newly completed genome sequence is allowing researchers to connect the genotype--an organism's particular mix of genes--with its phenotype--how that organism develops and acts--in ways that have not been possible in other organisms whose genetics are not as well known.