"Integrating Biochemical Genomics and Quantitative Genetics to Balance the Nutritional Content of Plants," will be presented by Dean DellaPenna of Michigan State University at 4 p.m., April 1 in E103 Beadle Center. The seminar is free and open to the public.
Agricultural crops are the foundation of the global food supply but their edible tissues (mainly seeds) contain inadequate levels of many essential micronutrients and contribute to global micronutrient malnutrition. While most essential nutrient pathways in plants have now been elucidated, attempts to predictively engineer them to achieve a desired end remains a hit and (mostly) miss endeavor.
A better understanding of the genetic and molecular basis underpinning natural variation in essential nutrients in seeds is needed to achieve desired phenotypes and (nutritional) outcomes. Toward this end, DellaPenna and his team have been utilizing genome wide association mapping (GWAS) and nested association mapping (NAM) in maize and Arabidopsis to understand the genetic and molecular basis of natural variation for micronutrients in seed.
In general, several QTL impact a given seed trait but only ~25% of the QTL intervals contain a pathway biosynthetic gene, ~75% identify novel genes affecting the traits! With ¾ of the needed information missing, it is easy to understand why metabolic engineering efforts too often have limited success. This talk will summarize DellaPenna's progress in understanding the identity and mechanism(s) of genes/loci regulating micronutrient variation in natural systems.
The Beadle Center is located at 1901 Vine Street. The complete schedule of seminars may be found at http://biotech.unl.edu/.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/u79i