Arabidopsis 2010: A Systematic Approach to Automated Production of Recombinant Inbred Lines

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to develop a resource for the scientific community that promotes expanded use of natural genetic variation in reaching the 2010 Project objective of assigning a function to each Arabidopsis gene. At least four new sets of mapped Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) will be produced. Potential pairs of parents from hundreds of available wild type accessions will be systematically screened for genetic and phenotypic variance and pairwise distances. The chosen parents will include wild lines not previously exploited. Simple Sequence Length DNA Polymorphisms (SSLPs) will be used as much as possible for mapping. Ninety-five individuals, from sets of 400 RI lines will be mapped at one hundred loci, generating a map with a density of approximately 6 centiMorgans. Seeds for all RILs will be publicly available through the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~plantbio/Facilities/abrc/ABRCHOME.HTM) and maps and mapping data will be available online through The Arabidopsis Information Resource (http://www.arabidopsis.org/) by January 2004. During the course of this project, undergraduate and graduate students and technicians will be trained in robotics, molecular biology, genetics, and quantitative trait mapping. In addition, students in the Biotechnology Program at the Austin Community College will receive similar training through an outreach program. Conventional genetics used in a small number of laboratory strains of Arabidopsis, will not be able to reach the 2010 Project goal of complete knowledge of every plant gene's function. This project will provide a way to map and identify genes in local wild populations of Arabidopsis that are important for adaptation to many different environments and are the result of many different evolutionary histories. These different environments will include different soil types, day lengths, pest populations, moisture levels, temperatures, and other factors. This will eventually lead to a better understanding of important adaptations to incorporate into the world's crops.