To address specific bottlenecks associated with the seamless integration of induced mutations in crop breeding, the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme initiated a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) that brought together researchers from developed and developing countries. This CRP sought to develop a series of different modules, from which combinations can be made to create a tailored pipeline specific to the crop and objectives of the researcher. Modules included methods to evaluate the density and spectrum of mutations using different mutagens, doses and tissues, and modes of induction. This allowed guidelines to be produced on how to develop the most efficient mutagenized population. For example, the density of induced mutations can be used to determine the minimal population size required to obtain a mutation in a target gene. Other modules included methods for selection of plants with desirable traits, the dissolution of chimeric sectors after mutagenesis, and reverse-genetic strategies to target mutations in candidate genes to obviate the need for large field trials. So that major biological systems and production constraints were covered, the targets for this CRP included vegetatively (banana and cassava) and seed propagated (rice, barley) crops. The major outputs of the CRP participants’ efforts to improve the efficiency of using induced mutations for crop improvement and functional genomics were summarised in numerous publications.
Major achievements of this CRP include:
- efficient method for mutation induction/chimera dissolution in vegetative prop plants,
- low-cost methods for mutant screening developed and more than 100 researchers trained in >30 Member States (including TC Projects),??
- establishment of efficient reverse-genetics screens (& genome editing),
- non-destructive and low-cost plant phenotyping systems (including NIRS & semi-automated, low-cost root phenotyping),
- establishment of genome sequencing methods for mutation discovery/screening and marker development,
- mutant populations developed (rice, barley, banana, cassava), and
- mutant rice with improved aroma & nutrition in varietal trials.
Ten research institutions from nine countries participated in this project: Austria, China, Cuba, Germany, Ghana, Poland, Sierra Leone, the USA and Vietnam.
The results of the five-year CRP were published as an open access protocol book entitled ‘Biotechnologies for Plant Mutation Breeding’ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-45021-6
In addition, over 70 publications were published, including peer reviewed articles, conference abstracts and book chapters
For more information, please see the CRP description:
http://www.dgdingfa.net/projects/crp/d24012
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