Arabidopsis thaliana accessions have been screened and selected for identification and cloning of selenium (Se)related genes by comparing the differences in Se tolerance among the accessions. In the present study, we evaluated Se tolerance and accumulation in leaves and roots of 72 A. thaliana accessions. After cultivation of A. thaliana for 28 day at 25 ℃ under conditions of 0 and 1.0 ppm sodium selenite, root length and Se concentration in leaves and roots were measured. The Se tolerance index (STI) (calculated as root length in the presence of Se divided by root length in the non-Se medium) was used to correct for differences in growth between accessions in the non-Se condition. The STI varied from 0.28 to 2.24 among the 72 accessions. There was no correlation between the STI and Se concentration in leaves and roots. However, there was a significant correlation between Se concentration in leaves and roots among the accessions. We selected the Wt-2 and Kas-1 accessions as having the highest and lowest STI, respectively. The result of this study was the identification and selection of A. thaliana accessions based on differences in Se tolerance and accumulation.
