Defining the genetic basis of barley metabolite content to improve nutrient use efficiency, crop quality and resilience with reduced inputs

确定大麦代谢物含量的遗传基础，以减少投入来提高养分利用效率、作物质量和恢复力

• 批准号: 2763643
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Dundee
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2763643
• 关键词: Defining; genetic; basis; barley; metabolite

Barley is a crop of great importance with respect to both spring malting barley for the renowned Scotch whisky industry, and winter barley for animal feeds. Only high-quality barley from a limited number of varieties is taken forward to malting and distilling, therefore greatly influencing market value. Barley is regarded as a high-input cereal and therefore contributes significantly to the overall carbon footprint of whiskies and beers. Optimum nitrogen (N) levels promote the enzymatic breakdown of starch in raw grains to sugars during malting. The current solution is the addition of N fertilisers which enhance yield and assure quality. However, the energy costs of producing N fertiliser and an unbalanced N cycle in soils which produces ghg emissions in the form NOx contribute most to the unfavourable environmental footprint. Improving N recovery and utilisation will reduce the need for inputs and reduce pollution (key to the green recovery). The aim of the PhD will be to assess and improve our understanding of the genetic and metabolic basis of high nitrogen use efficiency and photosynthetic capacity in barley, whilst producing grains with high distilling quality. Key to barley quality is the capacity to maintain carbon assimilation and export to developing grains under a range of conditions. This requires constant metabolic adjustment in response to environmental variation. A first step towards breeding metabolically resilient barley will be to define the genetic architecture underpinning the optimisation of metabolism. A further objective is to link an understanding of metabolic resilience to key yield and quality traits. To achieve this, barley populations will be screened for high photosynthetic rates and efficient grain import, under reduced N inputs and with alternative fertilisers (e.g. municipal compost, distillery co- products). This data will be used in a genome wide association study (GWAS) to identify Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) and candidate genes contributing to variation in these traits under different nitrogen conditions. Additionally, the impact of these nitrogen treatments on the metabolome will be determined. Laboratory scale micro-malting, mashing, fermentation and distillation can then be used to produce spirit and assess the impact on alcohol yield and flavour profile. Understanding the genetics and physiology underpinning these traits will provide knowledge, and genetic and metabolic QTL, to aid breeding towards reduced inputs and environmental footprint. The project offers excellent interdisciplinary training, developing skills in plant growth and phenotyping, genomics, metabolomics, flavour chemistry, and sensory analysis, as well as statistical analysis and modelling.

大麦在著名的苏格兰威士忌行业和动物饲料的冬季大麦方面都非常重要。只有数量有限的品种的高质量大麦才能磨碎和蒸馏，因此很大程度上影响了市场价值。大麦被认为是一种高输入谷物，因此对威士忌和啤酒的整体碳足迹做出了重大贡献。最佳氮（N）水平可在麦芽麦糖浆中促进生晶粒中淀粉的酶促分解。当前的解决方案是添加N肥料，可提高产量和确保质量。但是，在土壤中产生N肥料和不平衡的N周期的能源成本，以NOX形式产生温室气体排放最大，这对不利的环境足迹造成了最大的影响。改善n恢复和利用率将减少输入的需求并减少污染（绿色恢复的关键）。博士学位的目的是评估和提高我们对大麦高氮使用效率和光合作用能力的遗传和代谢基础的理解，同时生产具有高蒸馏质量的谷物。大麦质量的关键是在各种条件下保持碳同化和出口到发展谷物的能力。这需要响应环境变化的恒定代谢调整。迈向代谢弹性大麦的第一步是定义基于代谢优化的遗传结构。一个进一步的目标是将对代谢弹性的理解与关键产量和质量特征联系起来。为了实现这一目标，将筛选大麦种群的光合作用速率和有效的谷物进口，在减少的N输入和替代性肥料（例如市政堆肥，酿酒厂共同产品）下进行筛选。该数据将在基因组广泛的关联研究（GWAS）中使用，以鉴定定量性状基因座（QTL）和候选基因在不同的氮条件下导致这些性状变异的候选基因。此外，将确定这些氮处理对代谢组的影响。然后可以使用实验室尺度的微型磨损，捣碎，发酵和蒸馏来产生精神并评估对酒精产量和风味的影响。了解这些特征的基础的遗传学和生理学将提供知识以及遗传和代谢QTL，以帮助繁殖减少投入和环境足迹。该项目提供了出色的跨学科培训，发展了植物生长和表型，基因组学，代谢组学，风味化学和感觉分析的技能，以及统计分析和建模。