Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
January 12, 2010
As agricultural land becomes increasingly valuable, the need to maximize its utilization increases and decisions about what crops to plant and where, become paramount.
The sunflower family includes a number of valuable food crops, with sunflower seed production alone valued at about $14 billion* annually. Yet the sunflower family is the only one of a handful of economically important plant families where a reference genome is not available to enable the breeding of crops better suited to their growing environment or consumers tastes.
A new research project, largely funded by Genome Canada through the Government of Canada, Genome BC, US Departments of Energy and Agriculture, and France’s INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research), will create a reference genome for the sunflower family – currently the world’s largest plant family, containing 24,000 species of plants, including many crops, medicinal plants, horticulture plants and noxious weeds.
The US$10.5 million research project titled, Genomics of Sunflower, will use next-generation genotyping and sequencing technologies to sequence, assemble and annotate the sunflower genome and to locate the genes that are responsible for agriculturally important traits such as seed-oil content, flowering, seed-dormancy, and wood producing-capacity.
“The intent is to have the basis for a breeding program within four years,” says project leader, Dr. Loren Rieseberg (University of British Columbia).
One of the potential applications of this research includes a hybrid variety of sunflower, grown as a dual-use crop. The wild Silverleaf species of sunflower, known for its tall, woody stalks that grow 10 to 15 feet tall and up to 4 inches in diameter in a single season, could be crossbred with the commercially valuable sunflower plant that produces high quality seeds, capitalizing on the desirable traits of both species.
“The seeds would be harvested for food and oil, while the stalks would be utilized for wood or converted to ethanol. As a dual-use crop it wouldn’t be in competition with food crops for land,” says project leader, Dr. Loren Rieseberg (University of British Columbia).
In addition, this fast growing annual crop will be highly drought resistant, thanks to desirable traits from the Silverleaf variety, and would therefore be suitable for use in subsistence agriculture in places like Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in much of North America.
Dr. Nolan Kane (University of British Columbia) is one of the co-investigators on the project and together with colleagues at INRA in France, is doing much of the bioinformatics for the genome project.
“The sunflower genome is 3.5 billion letters long – slightly larger than the human genome. The sunflower family is the largest plant family on earth – encompassing several important crops and weeds. Mapping its genome will create a very useful reference template for the entire plant family, which will enable us to work on closely related species,” says Kane.
Dr. Steve Knapp (University of Georgia) is another co-investigator on the project, whose work includes genetic mapping for desirable traits such as wood formation, as well as the development of germplasm for breeding. “The complete sequence will give us a full draft of the genome and eliminate the arduous one at a time process that we have been using up until this point,” he says.
“Genome BC is very pleased to support this innovative project, which will capitalize on Canada’s strong genomics infrastructure and leadership in Sunflower genomics, in collaboration with other experts worldwide,” says Dr. Alan Winter, President and CEO of Genome BC. “The potential applications of this research are extremely important, both globally and locally.”
*$14 billion seed crop value taken from www.sunflowernsa.com
Founded in 2000, Genome BC works collaboratively with government, universities and industry as the catalyst for a genomics-driven life sciences cluster with significant social and economic benefits for the Province and Canada. The organization's research portfolio, over $410 million since inception, includes 74 projects and technology platforms focused on areas of strategic importance to British Columbia such as human health, forestry, fisheries, bioenergy, mining, agriculture, and the environment. Genome BC programs are funded by Genome Canada, the Provincial Government of British Columbia, Western Economic Diversification Canada and other public and private partners.
For more information about Genome BC, visit www.genomebc.ca
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Genomics of Sunflower
Project Summary
The sunflower family (Compositae) is the largest plant family on earth and includes economically important crops (sunflowers, lettuce, artichokes), beautiful wildflowers (daisies), common allergens (ragweed, goldenrod), valuable medicinals, and costly invasive plants and rangeland weeds (thistles, dandelions). Despite the wide diversity and economic importance of plants in this family, there is no genome sequence for any of these species, or even any plants from closely related families.
Lack of a genome sequence has delayed genetic research and crop breeding. Despite the rather large genome size of Compositae, recent advances in DNA sequencing technology (so-called “next-generation” sequencing) now make it practical to sequence their genomes. This project will use both these new technologies along with more conventional sequencing methods to obtain the DNA sequence of the entire cultivated sunflower genome.
Having an entire genome sequence will facilitate scientific research across this diverse plant family, with applications ranging from crop improvement to weed control to the development of wood-producing sunflower varieties.
The social science and humanities research component of this project will complement the genomic research by investigating the relevant Intellectual Property issues and regulatory context of the scientific work and its potential applications.
An additional application will be the development of sunflower as a source of biofuel with unique advantages as an annual woody plant. Biofuel development will exploit two extremely drought tolerant, wood-forming, desert-dwelling wild species: silverleaf sunflower (H. argophyllus) and Algodones dune sunflower (H. tephrodes). This will allow farmers to grow small, woody trees (a source of biofuel) in a single year while simultaneously using the sunflower seeds for edible oil. Such a dual-use crop has great economic potential.
The project will increase the speed and precision of sunflower-breeding programs by identifying molecular markers for beneficial genes that encode important agricultural traits such as seed-oil content and flowering time.
PROJECT LEADER BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Loren Rieseberg is currently a Professor in the Department of Botany at the University of British Columbia. He holds a Ph.D. in Botany from Washington State University and an M.S. in Botany from the University of Tennessee. His research has been recognized by MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships. He also has served as President of the American Genetics Association.
PROJECT INFORMATION
Project title: Genomics of Sunflower
Total Project Value: $10.5 million (US$)
Project Leader: Dr. Loren Rieseberg, UBC
Co-Investigators: Dr. Steve Knapp, Dr. Patrick Vincourt, Dr. John Burke, Dr. Nolan Kane, Dr. Emily Marden
Project Funding: Genome Canada through the Government of Canada, Genome BC, US Department of Energy, US Department of Agriculture, INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research)
Involved Research Institutions: University of British Columbia, University of Georgia, INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research)
For more information about Genome BC, visit www.genomebc.ca
Topics
Species
