Genomics of Abiotic Stress Resistance in Wild and Cultivated Sunflowers Investigators* Institution Expertise Loren Rieseberg U. British Columbia Genomics John Burke U. Georgia Genomics Lisa Donovan U. Georgia Ecophysiology Emily Marden U. British Columbia IP, Policy, & Regulation Brent Hulke USDA ARS Fargo Molecular Breeding *present at Face-to-Face meeting
The Challenge
Cultivated Sunflower Globally important – seed production valued at $20 billion US Hybrid seed valued at $1 billion US, second only to maize Canada produces ~125,000 tonnes of sunflower seeds yearly Production expected to expand 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
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 end users (sunflower breeders); Enable development and use of resistant, high-yielding cultivars that increase productivity of marginal lands in Canada and elsewhere.
Alignment with RFA Project addresses following focal topics of 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. Drought tolerant line in Uganda Sunflower oil in Serere, Uganda
Project Overview + Crop Germplasm (Activity 1) • Population genomics of stress resistance - Range-wide sampling of extremophile species - Environmental data (climate, soil, water) Wild Relatives (Activity 2) • GWAS of drought, salt, flood, nutrient stress - HTP + traditional phenotyping • Mechanistic analyses of stress resistance Crop Germplasm (Activity 1) Scientific Outcomes: System level understanding of abiotic stress resistance Validation of candidate genes, potential extension to other oilseeds Deliverables: "Next generation” germplasm resources Central data mining and analysis resource Models for predicting yields of resistant sunflower cultivars across Canada Strategic recommendations for mitigating barriers to R&D caused by treaties Anticipated Scientific Outcomes and Deliverables Development & characterization of MAGIC populations (Activity3) Functional analyses of candidate genes (Activity 4) GE3LS – Develop crop yield models (Activity 5) GE3LS – Explore how international treaties impact germplasm use (Activity 6) Crop + Wild (Activities 3-6) +
HIGH-THROUGHPUT PHENOTYPING Project Team BIOINFORMATICS Burke (U. Georgia) Kubach (SAP AG) Rieseberg (UBC Yeaman (U. Calgary) GENOMICS & PHYSIOLOGY Burke (U. Georgia) Donovan (U. Georgia) Hulke (USDA) Langlade (INRA) Parrott (U. Georgia) Rieseberg (UBC) Yeaman (USDA) GERMPLASM & BREEDING Anyanga (NaSARRI) Conque, (Biogemma) Gerdes (NuSeed) Hulke (USDA) Marek (USDA) May (AgCanada) Wieckhorst (KWS) Xiao (Dow) Zambelli (Advanta) GEL3S Marden (UBC) Ramankutty (UBC) HIGH-THROUGHPUT PHENOTYPING Andrade-Sanchez (U. Arizona) Bali (DREC) Langlade (INRA)
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 food security Improved crop health Adaptation to climate change Reduced environmental impacts
Sunflower, a global oil seed Globally important – seed production valued at $20 billion US Priority food security crop Excellent genomic resources due to previous investment by Genome Canada