Location: Sunflower Improvement Research
Project Number: 3060-21000-047-015-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 16, 2023
End Date: Dec 15, 2024
Objective:
The long-term mission of this project is to develop Predictive Crop Performance tools to ensure North Dakota public crops are sustainable in the face of current and future abiotic and biotic stresses. To successfully complete the mission, genotypic and phenotypic performance data will be utilized to predict which advanced breeding lines will perform best in the evolving climatic conditions anticipated in the near future in North Dakota. Three objectives will support this mission: 1) assess the species wide genotypic variability of public crops in North Dakota by developing reference genome assemblies and annotations of lines representing the important variability found in the NDSU breeding programs; 2) determine the variability of breeding lines in the NDSU breeding programs; 3) identify genetic factors associated with sustainability of ND public crops in the face of evolving abiotic and biotic stresses.
Approach:
During the project, these objectives will be addressed by the following approaches. 1) Full reference genome sequence assemblies and annotations will be developed for multiple genotypes of common bean, pea, and barley. For common bean, two wild genotypes representative of the Middle American and Andean gene pools will be sequenced. Also, two members of domesticated representatives of Race Grenada of the Andean, and one member of Race Peru of the Andean gene pool will be sequenced. Full reference genome sequence assemblies and annotation will also be generated for eight pea genotypes and four barley genotypes representing the diversity of NDSU pea breeding. The sequence effort will also include RNA sequencing from tissues affected by abiotic or biotic stresses. The sequence effort will be a collaboration by NDSU and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. 2) To provide a knowledge base of breeding lines currently being improved for a specific trait, advanced barley breeding lines will be screened with a select set of markers known to be associated with agronomic performance, disease resistance, and end-use quality traits. 3) The genotypic and phenotypic data collected from the above activities for common bean, pea, barley, and potato programs will be integrated into the NDSU breeding phenotypic and genotypic databases. This will enable the selection of the optimum number of markers and methods necessary to ensure the breeding programs are selecting for lines that collectively are sustainable in the evolving climatic conditions of North Dakota.
