Exploiting Genetic Diversity of Essential Micronutrients in Duckweeds for Human Nutrition

浮萍是生长迅速的水生植物，具有优异的营养品质（高蛋白质含量，宝贵的ω-3脂肪酸和必需的微量营养素），这表明对人类和动物营养的高潜力。最近的研究表明，这些营养品质在不同物种甚至种内浮萍中存在显着的遗传变异。然而，这种变异在浮萍中的遗传基础仍不清楚。我们的目标是查明潜在的遗传基础，浮萍的营养品质的变化，对开发工具包，选择合适的浮萍基因型，为未来的应用在人类和动物营养。在这个DTP的学生，我们将主要集中在必需的欧米茄-3脂肪酸和氨基酸，这是在人类和动物健康的各种生理过程中的重要营养质量。与最初提交的相同，但我们已将氨基酸分析沿着纳入脂肪酸。

Duckweeds are fast growing aquatic plants that have excellent nutritional qualities (high protein content, valuable omega-3 fatty acids and essential micro-nutrients), suggesting high potential for human and animal nutrition. Recent research suggest that there is a significant genetic variation for these nutritional qualities in different species and even intraspecific duckweeds. However, the genetic basis of such variation in duckweeds remains unclear. We aim to pinpoint the genetic basis underlying the variation of nutritional qualities in duckweeds towards developing toolkit for selecting suitable duckweed genotypes for future applications in human and animal nutrition. In this DTP studentship, we will primarily focus on the nutritional quality of essential omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids, which are important in a wide variety of physiological processes in human and animal health. Same as originally submitted except we have included Amino acid profiling along with the fatty acids.