How effective is T-DNA insertional mutagenesis in Arabidopsis?

To evaluate the effectiveness of T-DNA insertion in knocking out agene, 1084 published Arabidopsis thaliana insertion mutantsrepresenting 755 genes in 648 publications were reviewed. Insertionin the protein-coding region of a gene generates a knockout at least90% of the time or 25% of the time if it is before the start codonwhich also produces a knockdown 67% of the time. Insertion afterthe stop codon had no effect on transcription of the upstream gene17% of the time compared to 8% in insertion before the start codon.T-DNA insertion can also cause deletion and translocation.