In the last 10 years,a nontransgenic method for reverse genetics called Targeting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes (TILLING) has been developed as a method for inducing and identifying novel genetic varia- tion,and has been demonstrated in the model plant,Arabidopsis thaliana.Recently,TILLING has been extended to the improvement of crop plants and shows great promise as a general method for both functional genomics and modulation of key traits in diverse crops.