Arabidopsis Thaliana Is a Small Angiosperm Related to Mustard

Arabidopsis thaliana is a small angiosperm related to mustard.It is commonly used in plant research experiments.In one such experiment,an antifreeze protein from a species of bacteria was inserted into the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana,and the plants exposed to freezing temperatures.Plants without the antifreeze protein had 90% mortality,while those with the antifreeze protein only had 20% mortality.Arabidopsis thaliana is not a crop plant,why would scientists perform this experiment in this plant?

A) Because crop plants are not killed by freezing
B) Because scientists hope to establish it as a crop plant
C) Because they cannot grow any other plants in the lab
D) Because other plants cannot express bacterial genes
E) Because it is an easy to grow model organism