SBIR Phase I: SNP Discovery to Identify Candidate Genes for Association Genetics in "Pongamia pinnata", a High-Potential Biodiesel Feedstock

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将测试的可行性？整个转录组鸟枪DNA测序方法，以确定候选等位基因，可以与农艺学上重要的性状在水黄皮，豆科树木，产生大量的种子油，适合生物柴油精炼。这种方法同时寻找大量表达的基因变异（等位基因）中的特定DNA变化（SNP），这些基因变异可能与身体性状相关。这些等位基因的特异性DNA标记将允许在育种群体中追踪多种有价值的性状，并加速水黄皮属商业种群的发展，这种显著但未驯化的生物燃料原料树生长在不适合粮食生产的边缘土地上，与根瘤菌一起固定氮，并且需要低水平的水。这项研究的更广泛/商业影响是，如果基于研究和育种以生产表型稳定和可预测的作物，那么水黄皮的商业化将更容易进行。 生物柴油精炼行业的主要问题仍然是缺乏可扩展的，可靠的，具有成本效益的原料油，而不是缺乏精炼能力。 Pongamia为边际土地的所有者提供了这样一种作物，可以为土地所有者和炼油商提供利润，从而为可再生运输燃料提供真实的市场解决方案。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will test the feasibility of a ?whole transcriptome? shotgun DNA sequencing approach to identify candidate alleles that can be associated with agronomically important traits in Pongamia pinnata, a leguminous tree that produces large quantities of seed oil suitable for biodiesel refining. This approach looks simultaneously for specific DNA changes (SNPs) among large numbers of expressed gene variants, alleles, that may correlate with physical traits. Specific DNA markers of these alleles will permit the tracking of multiple valuable traits within breeding populations and accelerate the development of commercial stocks of Pongamia, This remarkable but undomesticated, biofuel feedstock tree grows on marginal land unsuited for food production, fixes nitrogen in association with rhizobium, and requires low levels of water. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are that commercialization of Pongamia will proceed more readily if based solidly upon research and breeding to produce a phenotypically stable and predictable crop. The major issue for the biodiesel refining industry remains the lack of a scalable, reliable, cost effective feedstock of raw oil, not the lack of refining capacity. Pongamia provides owners of marginal land with just such a crop that can yield oil for the biofuel industry at a profit to land owners and refiners, thus offering a real market solution to renewable transportation fuel.