THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF OUR PROJECT IS TO GENERATE, ISOLATE, AND CHARACTERIZE TRAIT-IMPROVING MUTATIONS WORTHY OF INTROGRESSION INTO ELITE PENNYCRESS BREEDING LINES, TO GENERATE PROFITABLE COMMERCIAL PENNYCRESS VARIETIES. WE WILL EMPLOY BOTH FORWARD GENETIC SCREENS TO IDENTIFY COMMERCIALLY-RELEVANT TRAIT IMPROVING MUTATIONS AS WELL AS A REVERSE GENETICS APPROACH EMPLOYING THE NEWCRISPR-CAS9 GENOME EDITING TECHNIQUE TO TARGET MUTATIONS IN DOMESTICATION TRAIT GENES. WE ENVISION THE COMMERCIAL VARIETIES ARISING FROM THIS WORK WILL CONSISTENTLY YIELD OVER 1,500 LBS OF HARVESTABLE SEED PER ACRE, PRODUCING MEAL THAT IS OF HIGH-ENOUGH QUALITY TO BE PRICE-COMPETITIVE WITH CANOLA MEAL. FUNDING OF THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL BE CRUCIAL IN MEETING THESE GOALS WITHIN A TEN-YEAR TIME FRAME. NOTABLY, THE NATURAL PENNYCRESS VARIETIES WITH REQUISITE REDUCTIONS IN SEED GLUCOSINOLATE AND FIBER CONTENT HAVE NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED IN THE HUNDREDS OF PENNYCRESS STRAINS COLLECTED THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA ANDAROUND THE WORLD. THEREFORE, THOSE TRAITS MUST BE IMPROVED BY USING THE FORWARD AND REVERSE GENETICS APPROACHES PROPOSED HERE.