DEVELOPMENT OF REVERSE GENETICS RESOURCE FOR DIPLOID WHEAT (Triticum monococcum)

 

Oscar Riera-Lizarazu

 

Dept. of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA

 

ABSTRACT

 

Despite its large genome and polyploid nature, molecular genetic analysis of wheat is rapidly advancing due, in part, to the availability of community resources including numerous BAC and cDNA libraries, a large number of ESTs, and increasingly dense genetic and physical maps. Still, there is a need for resources to go from gene sequence to gene function.  Thus, the aim of this project is to investigate a reverse-genetics or gene-knockout resource in a cultivated diploid wheat, Triticum monococcum, that is based on a large collection of plants (40,000) carrying chemically-induced small deletions.  Screening of this mutant collection for lesions in a gene of interest will be accomplished through an efficient pooling scheme combined with a PCR-based assay termed DEALING (DEtecting Adduct Lesions IN Genomes).  Subsequently, phenotypic analysis of plants carrying a particular deletion will shed light on the function of the gene in question.  A public database (http://wire.ndsu.nodak.edu) to disseminate the information generated by this and future DEALING experiments is under development.