Abstract Detail

Crops and Wild Relatives

Murin, Paige [1], Mandel, Jennifer [2].

Studying the evolution of functional genes in Centrapalus pauciflorus (Asteraceae) and its wild relatives.

Centrapalus pauciflorus (Willd.) H.Rob. (Asteraceae) is a tropical, indeterminate annual oil seed crop, which is endemic to Eastern Africa. The seeds contain high levels of vernolic acid, an epoxidized fatty acid that can provide flexibility and stability to plastics and epoxides. Vernolic acid is a desirable source of epoxidized fatty acids as it prevents the need to use harmful petrochemicals to serve this purpose. A better understanding of the underlying genotypic variation that contributes to the evolution of complex phenotypic traits in C. pauciflorus will provide a basis for informed crop-wild breeding strategies. The use of Hyb-Seq (target enrichment) methodology will allow for the sampling of hundreds of loci from a number of members of the Centrapalus complex and related taxa. Analysis of recovered sequence data will allow for the underlying evolutionary processes involved in domestication to be better understood. Loci showing evidence of positive selection, indicated by lower levels of allelic diversity compared to neutral sites, will be identified as potential candidate genes which were likely under selective pressure during the process of domestication. These data will help establish links between genotypic variation and subsequent phenotypes as well as provide the foundations for a functional analysis using RNA-Seq.

1 - 5960 Windsor Falls Loop, Arlington, TN, 38002, United States
2 - University Of Memphis, Biological Sciences, 3744 Walker Ave, 339 Ellington Hall, Memphis, TN, 38152, United States

Keywords:
Crop wild relatives
agriculture
Target enrichment
candidate genes
Vernolic acid.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P1, Crops and Wild Relatives Posters
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Monday, July 19th, 2021
Time: 5:00 PM(EDT)
Number: P1CW006
Abstract ID:708
Candidate for Awards:None