Understanding flowering time in flax - developing early flowering varieties using genetics and epigenetics to modify gene expression

加拿大是世界上最大的亚麻生产国和出口国。然而，加拿大亚麻的生产主要局限于萨斯喀彻温省和马尼托巴省的南部地区，因为在粮食带的北部地区，作物成熟之前可能会发生致命的霜冻。发展开花早、成熟早的亚麻将有利于目前种植亚麻的地区的生产者，也有利于扩大草原上亚麻种植的北部范围。因此，本项目的目的是了解与亚麻早开花和北方适应性状相关的遗传学、表观遗传学和基因表达模式。该项目将利用由作物发展中心（CDC，萨斯喀彻温大学）开发的重组自交系（RILs），并利用CDC和Genome Prairie的全面利用亚麻基因组项目所产生的研究成果和知识。由此产生的知识将用于指导开发适合北部粮食带的亚麻品种，从而使种子生产者和加拿大亚麻工业直接受益。它还将扩大我们对5-氮杂胞苷诱导的甲基化变化如何改变基因表达以及亚麻从营养生长到开花的发育转换如何发生的理解。该项目还代表了表观遗传学应用于植物育种的第一个案例。

Canada is the largest producer and exporter of flax in the world. However, Canadian flax production is largely limited to the southern parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba because there is significant risk in the northern part of the grain belt that a killing frost will occur before crop maturity. The development of earlier flowering and, consequently, earlier maturing flax would be beneficial to producers in the areas currently growing flax as well as for expanding the northern limits of flax cultivation in the Prairies. Thus, the aim of this project is to develop an understanding of the genetics, epigenetics, and gene expression patterns associated with early flowering and northern adapted traits in flax. The project will utilize recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed by the Crop Development Centre (CDC, University of Saskatchewan) and capitalize on researchfindings and knowledge generated by both the CDC and Genome Prairie's Total Utilization Flax GENomics project. The knowledge generated will be used to direct development of flax varieties suited to the northern parts of the grain belt to the direct benefit of both seed producers and the Canadian flax industry. It will also expand our understanding of how changes in methylation induced by 5-azacytidine alter gene expression and how the developmental switch from vegetative growth to flowering occurs in flax. The proposed project also represents the first case of the application of epigenetics to plant breeding.