Exploiting Genetic Diversity of Essential Micronutrients in Duckweeds for Human Nutrition

浮萍是一种生长迅速的水生植物，具有优良的营养品质（高蛋白含量、有价值的omega-3脂肪酸和必需微量营养素），在人类和动物营养方面具有很高的潜力。最近的研究表明，这些营养品质在不同种类甚至种内的浮萍中存在显著的遗传变异。然而，浮萍中这种变异的遗传基础尚不清楚。我们的目标是确定浮萍营养品质变化的遗传基础，为选择合适的浮萍基因型开发工具包，以供未来在人类和动物营养中的应用。在这个DTP的学习中，我们将主要关注必需的omega-3脂肪酸和氨基酸的营养质量，它们在人类和动物健康的各种生理过程中都很重要。与最初提交的相同，除了我们已经包括氨基酸分析以及脂肪酸。

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.