Modelling and genomics resources to enhance exploitation of the sustainable and diverse Ethiopian starch crop Enset and support livelihoods

Enset是一种大型多年生草本植物，与相关的香蕉相似。它分布在非洲中部，东部和南部，是香蕉（Musaceae）家族的一种作物，目前仅在埃塞俄比亚就通过其球茎和茎基提供膳食淀粉为约2000万人提供食物来源。它还提供纤维，药物，动物饲料，蜜蜂的主要食物来源，具有文化意义并稳定土壤。Enset作为未来的气候智能型作物可能非常重要，因为它显然能够承受长时间（>5年）的干旱。然而，目前对其生物学知之甚少，包括野生和栽培形式的遗传变异，其果实生物学，土壤真菌协会或抵御病虫害的能力。我们寻求促进enset作为膳食淀粉的来源，建立合作英国/非洲的研究优势在四个主要方面：1）收集一系列数据，从其分布在埃塞俄比亚，包括enset的物理特性，以及有关当地气候和土壤的信息，在每个采样区域和农民访谈的数据。然后，这将用于通过计算机模型创建数据资源，这些数据资源将产生对支撑该作物的育种、粮食安全和产品供应以及加强政府政策的理解。2）在田间研究enset，以便充分了解其开花、结果和种子生产，以协助制定育种计划。3）解开香蕉家族的基因组，特别是enset，为了了解总体多样性模式并发现与理想特征相关的基因，例如开花控制，4）调查田间致病生物的发生情况，以发现不感病的种群和品种，供遗传研究和在田间保护。这些研究活动将有助于改善粮食供应安全，并有助于规划和培育能够抵御气候变化和疾病的品种。它们将防止enset被玉米等全球作物取代，减少农业和饮食的多样性。它将作为一种医药产品的来源受到保护，并有可能在非洲更广泛地种植，作为食品、生物燃料或工业的淀粉来源。就化肥和杀虫剂而言，它已经是一种低投入的作物，研究可以使它更低。我们还计划释放野生形式作为关键性状来源的价值，以及支撑它们繁殖成栽培植物的基因，如抗旱性或吸盘的形成，因此植物可以被划分为植物。我们计划开展的研究有助于英国和国际社会履行其在联合国可持续发展目标下的义务。最重要的是，该项目将支持在五年内提高人民的生活水平，通过组织培养方法和方法提供无病种植材料，以识别（从而帮助治疗）疾病或去除患病植物。

Enset is a large perennial herbaceous plant similar in form to the related banana. It is distributed across central, eastern and southern Africa, a crop in the banana (Musaceae) family, and currently provides a food source for ~20 million people in Ethiopia alone via its corm and stem base supplying dietary starch. It also supplies fibres, medicines, animal fodder, a key food source for bees, is culturally significant and stabilises soils. Enset is potentially very important as a climate-smart crop for the future because of its apparent ability to withstand long periods (>5 years) of drought. However, little is currently known about its biology, including the genetic variation of both wild and cultivated forms, its fruiting biology, soil fungal associations or ability to withstand pests and diseases. We seek to promote enset as a source of dietary starch build collaborative UK/African research strengths in four principal ways:1) Gathering a range of data from across its distribution in Ethiopia including the physical traits of enset alongside information about the local climate and soil in each area sampled and data from farmer interviews. This will then be used to create a data resource via computer models that will generate the understanding to underpin breeding, food security and supply of products and enhanced government policy in this crop.2) Studying enset in the field so that its flowering, fruiting and seed production is fully understood to assist in developing a breeding programme.3) Unravelling the genome of the banana family, and especially enset, to understand overall diversity patterns and discovering the genes associated desirable characteristics such as control of flowering, disease resistance and root and corm development.4) Surveying the occurrence of disease-causing organisms in the field to discover non-susceptible populations and varieties for genetic study and conservation at in-country seed banks and living plant collections with those displaying other useful traits.These research activities will help improve security of food supply and help to plan for and breed varieties that can withstand climate change and disease. They will prevent enset being supplanted by a global crop such as maize, reducing the diversity of both agriculture and diets. It will be protected as a source of pharmaceutical products and potentially could be more widely grown in Africa as a source of starch for food, biofuel or industry. It is already a low input crop in terms of fertilisers and pesticides and research can make it lower still. We also plan to unlock the value of wild forms as sources of key traits and the genes that underpin them for breeding into cultivated plants such as drought resistance or formation of suckers so plants can be divided vegetatively. The research we plan to undertake helps the UK and the global community to meet its obligations under the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Most importantly, the project will support improvement of people's standards of living within five years by providing disease free planting material through tissue culture methods and methods to identify (and therefore help treat) diseases or remove diseased plants.