Functional Genomics of Safflower

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A major agricultural biotechnology development, now approaching the market place, is the use of transgenic plants to produce novel high value proteins or pharmaceutical products. This area of research and company development has been termed "PMP's" (Plant Made Pharmaceuticals). PMP's have the potential to mass-produce high value proteins at relatively low cost while offering producers alternative high value crops. One of the key crops being utilized for the production of PMP's is safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), a minor crop within western Canada which is solely grown for birdseed and is therefore not a food crop. SemBioSys Genetics Inc. has recognized the benefit of working in a non-food crop. While working in nonfood crops is an advantage, a disadvantage is the lack of knowledge about the species genome and genetic makeup. However one benefit is that once genomic tools become available for the crop, significant advances in productivity can often be made fairly rapidly. This grant describes a program of research to develop many of the genomic tools that are necessary for safflower. These genomic tools include the development of DNA resources such as EST's, DNA markers, molecular maps, etc. and the development of specific germplasm including mutagenized lines and mapping populations. In addition, one of its key goals is to develop strong research groups in agricultural genomics. This requires a team of scientists with experience in genomics, plant genetics, germplasm evaluation and crop breeding. The long-term objectives of this proposal are to develop safflower as an alternative crop platform, to improve the germplasm available to the biotechnology and research communities in Canada, and to develop the expertise and appropriate partnerships to allow Canada to benefit from this alternative crop platform. Much of the work we are proposing has only recently become feasible due to the advances in genomic technologies coincident with their decreasing cost which have allowed smaller research institutions to gather genomic information and develop similar resources.