Project Number: 5325-21000-017-10
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Sep 15, 2009
End Date: Aug 31, 2013

Objective:
The objectives of the project are to (1) assemble a collection of natural accessions and 2,000 homozygous T-DNA lines; (2) conduct a detailed phenotypic characterization of the collection using a phenomic approach, and (3) begin detailed characterization of a select group of mutants and natural accessions.

Approach:
This project builds upon a collection of insertional mutants (T-DNA lines) and natural accessions of Brachypodium that we have already assembled. We will use PCR to identify homozygous mutants lines from segregating populations. We will then use high-throughput, non-destructive phenotyping (phenomics) to characterize the population of insertional mutants and natural accessions. This analysis is expected to identify variation in biomass, growth rate, water use efficiency, nutrient use efficiency and other traits relevant to bioenergy crop development. Based on this data we will select a small subset of lines for more detailed characterization including molecular complementation analysis to determine if the T-DNA insertion is responsible for the observed phenotype. All phenomic data and homozygous mutant lines will be made freely available to the research community.