Understanding and exploiting the diversity of form in Miscanthus

为了解决气候变化问题，应对大气中二氧化碳减排的挑战，必须开发和引进可持续技术。其中一项技术涉及使用能源作物在直接燃烧、气化、生物柴油生产和发酵制醇方面取代煤、石油和天然气。与化石燃料相比，生物质的优势在于燃烧只释放生长过程中吸收的碳，因此产生的能量是碳中性的。英国政府的目标是到2010年生物质能发电量占总发电量的10%，以帮助履行《京都气候变化协议》规定的义务。此外，生物质是唯一能够提供液体运输燃料和绿色化学品的可再生能源，英国的目标是到2010年运输燃料的可再生比例达到5%。芒草是一种巨大的多年生草，具有北欧生物质作物的优良特征，因为它结合了快速生长和耐低温。一旦建立，它需要最少的肥料投入，具有优异的抗病性，同时每年产生高产量的生物质。然而，对芒草的生长和发育缺乏基本的了解，因为它是欧洲的一种新作物，现在需要。初步研究已经确定了几种与生物量产量和质量有关的植物特性。例如，植物的大小和形状是最重要的，特别是茎粗和高度之间的关系。众所周知，这些特性是容易测量的，并受遗传控制，因此可以通过作物育种加以改进。生物量产量与株高直接相关，茎粗也是防止植株倒伏的重要性状。目前，最常用的能源作物是芒草，芒草是芒草和芒草的自然杂交品种。两种亲本表现出截然不同的形态：芒草紧凑，茎多，而芒草高大，茎少。IGER拥有独特的芒草收藏，是欧洲最全面的，其中包括具有非常不同形式的植物，可用于识别负责诸如茎高和厚度等特征的基因。芒草需要三年的时间才能完全成熟，因此利用DNA序列来预测成熟植物的特征将大大加快育种过程，提高生物量产量。该项目旨在开发合适的序列，并利用它们来了解是什么控制了芒草的生长和形成，从而协助育种计划。

In order to tackle the problem of climate change, and address the challenge of atmospheric CO2 abatement, sustainable technologies must be developed and introduced. One of these technologies involves the use of energy crops to replace coal, oil and natural gas in direct combustion, gasification, biodiesel production, and fermentation to alcohols. The advantage of biomass over fossil fuels is that combustion releases only the carbon taken up during growth, and so the energy generated is carbon neutral. The UK government aims to generate 10% of energy from biomass by 2010 to help achieve it's obligations under the Kyoto Climate Change Agreement. Moreover biomass is the only renewable capable of providing liquid transport fuels and green chemicals and there is a UK target of 5% of transport fuels to be renewable by 2010. Miscanthus is a giant perennial grass with excellent characteristics for a biomass crop in Northern Europe as it combines rapid growth with tolerance to low temperatures. Once established, it requires minimal fertiliser input and has excellent disease resistance whilst producing a high yield of biomass annually. However a fundamental understanding of the growth and development in Miscanthus is lacking because it is a novel crop for Europe, and is now needed. Preliminary research has identified several plant characteristics of interest in relation to yield and quality of biomass. For example, plant size and shape are of paramount importance, in particular the relationship between stem diameter and height. These characteristics are already known to be readily measurable and under genetic control, and are therefore open to improvement by crop breeding. Biomass yield is directly correlated with plant height, and stem diameter is also an important character to prevent plants falling over. Currently, the most commonly planted energy crop is Miscanthus x giganteus, a naturally occurring hybrid between Miscanthus sinensis and Miscanthus sacchariflorus. The two parent species display contrasting forms: Miscanthus sinensis is compact with numerous stems while Miscanthus sacchariflorus is tall with few stems. IGER has a unique collection of Miscanthus, the most comprehensive in Europe, which includes plants with very different forms that can be used to identify the genes responsible for characteristics such as stem height and thickness. Miscanthus takes three years to become fully established, so the use of DNA sequences to predict the mature plant characteristics would greatly speed up the breeding process to increase biomass yield. This project aims to develop suitable sequences and use them to understand what controls growth and form in Miscanthus, and hence assist the breeding programme.