Genomics of Abiotic Stress Resistance in Wild and Cultivated Sunflowers Investigator (*at F2F) Institution Expertise Loren Rieseberg* U. British Columbia Genomics John Burke* U. Georgia Genomics Lisa Donovan* U. Georgia Ecophysiology Nicolas Langlade INRA Toulouse Molecular Physiology Emily Marden* U. British Columbia IP, Policy, & Regulation Brent Hulke* USDA ARS Fargo Molecular Breeding Sam Yeaman U. Calgary Bioinformatics Navin Ramankutty U. British Columbia Land Use & Crop Modeling Collaborators and End Users Sunflower breeding: Zambelli (Advanta), May (AgCanada), Coque (Biogemma), Xiao (Dow), Wieckhorst (KWS), Anyanga (NaSARRI), Gerdes (NuSeed) Germplasm & HTP: Marek (USDA), Andrade-Sanchez (U. Arizona), Bali (DREC) Bioinformatics: Kubach (SAP AG) Gene Editing: Parrott (U. Georgia)

The Challenge

Major Goals Exploit sunflower crop-wild diversity to identify alleles that confer tolerance to drought, salt, low nutrient, and flooding stress, but with minimal yield trade-offs; Create germplasm resources to efficiently deliver these alleles to sunflower breeders, enabling development of resistant, high-yielding cultivars –Addresses the following focal topics of the RFA (p. 5): meeting the caloric demands of population growth, improving crop health, adapting crops to climate change, and lessening their footprint on the environment. –Investment will translate into improved yields and productivity of sunflower cultivars, especially on marginal lands in Canada and elsewhere.

Cultivated Sunflower Globally important – seed production valued at $20 billion US Hybrid seed valued at $1 billion US, second only to maize Canada is world’s 13th largest exporter & production expected to increase with climate change Priority food security crop Excellent genomic resources due to previous investment by Genome Canada Collaborator & End User - Walter Anyanga

Wild Sunflowers Flooding & salt tolerant sunflower Numerous wild extremophile sunflowers cross-compatible with cultivated sunflower Salt & drought tolerant sunflower Drought tolerant sunflower Low-nutrient tolerant sunflower

Project Overview Activity 1: Abiotic stress resistance (GWAS / mechanistic analyses) Activity 3: Develop & characterize MAGIC populations Activity 2: Population genomic analyses Activity 6: GE3LS - International treaties Activity 5: GE3LS - Crop yield models Activity 4: Functional analyses Environmentally resilient cultivars End users Deliverables Next generation germplasm Data mining resource Crop yield models Strategies to reduce barriers to agricultural innovation Social, Economic & Environmental Benefits to Canada & Developing World

Project Management

Budget Activities Summary Financial Overview Budget Activities Summary Co-funding Summary Abiotic stress resistance: $2,874,568 (2) Population Genomics: $1,771,694 (3) MAGIC populations: $1,202,801 (4) Functional validation: $966,466 (5) GE3LS – Yield models: $212,367 (6) GE3LS – Intl. treaties: $373,031 (7) Administration: $638,844 TOTAL: $8,039,771 Secured (100%) Genome BC: $1,752,158 *NSF: $2,482,094 Crop Trust: $100,000 INRA-France: $140,628 KWS Seeds: $50,000 Advanta Seeds: $27,000 Biogemma: $50,000 NuSeed $35,000 SAP AG $187,644 TOTAL: $4,914,524 *Verbal confirmation

Benefits to Canada & Developing World Next Generation Germplasm Enhanced Molecular Breeding Project years 2-4 Strategies for Reducing Barriers to Ag Innovation Sunflower Breeding Programs Training of HQP Crop Yield Models Data Mining Tools GE3LS Gene Editing Mutations Introduced into Soybean HQP from Project enter Workplace Environmentally Resilient Cultivars in Field Within 5 years Greater Clarity on Application of Treaty Increased Efficacy of Resistance Alleles Increased Agricultural Productivity Reduced Environmental Impacts Increased Food Security Knowledge Generation