Project Number: 3625-21000-050-18
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jun 28, 2010
End Date: May 31, 2013

Objective:
1) Utilize GEM germplasm to develop germplasm with improved yield, grain quality, and specialty starch, such as high amylose for resistant starch, and double mutants of high amylose and waxy; 2) Continue studies to closely identify linked markers for major high amylose modifiers (HAM) and implement these markers for marker assisted selection; 3) Investigate allelic variation at the high amylose modifier gene; and 4) Evaluate variation in endosperm starch and protein quantity and quality to determine attributes for kernel hardness and grain quality.

Approach:
GEM derived high amylose inbred lines currently in the Truman State University program will undergo further inbreeding to fix the genes for high amylose. Inbreds will be selected based on ear grain quality, and amylose values generated in the lab. Inbreds will be crossed from the stiff stalk heterotic group to those from the non-stiff stalk group and evaluated in yield trials. A marker data base will be created using the SSR markers in collaboration with South Dakota State University. Lines in the breeding program will be genotyped and fragment types will be explored. Markers which co-segregate with HAM will be used in future work to implement marker assisted selection. To investigate variation in starch and protein and its role in grain quality, several laboratory methods will be used. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) will be used to investigate starch granule structure in the endopserm. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) will be used to extract storage proteins to assess the role of protein and starch interaction which may determine kernel hardness/grain quality. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) will be used to determine if starch thermal properties can be a diagnostic screen to identify double and triple endosperm mutants.