Award details

Renewable Industrial Products from Rapeseed (RIPR)

Reference	BBS/E/T/000GP023
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Wiktor Jurkowski
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Earlham Institute
Department	Earlham Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	102,453
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/01/2014
End date	31/03/2017
Duration	38 months

Abstract

Oilseed rape is commercially viable because a co-product can be exploited (a protein-rich feed for animals) in addition to the primary product (oil). However, many other valuable products could be extracted and exploited commercially, adding value to the crop. The serial purification of co-products is termed "bio-refining". Emerging opportunities include tocopherols (vitamin E) and phytosterols (cholesterol lowering compounds) from rapeseed oil, waxes (with aphid-repellent properties and those with medical properties) from pod walls and stems, and functional polysaccharides (including high-value stabilisers, surfactants and barriers) from stems. Additionally, the efficiency with which fertilizer is used by rapeseed is poorly understood, but its optimization is essential as fertilizer is both expensive and potentially damaging to the environment. Recent advances in sequencing technology and genomics has led to the emergence of a technology termed Associative Transcriptomics. In this approach, the search for DNA sequence variation is focussed on gene sequences and variation for gene expression is also exploited; both providing very large sets of potential "markers" for trait variation. This project will sequence the transcriptome of 600 diverse Brassica accessions (100 B. rapa, 100 B. oleracea and 400 B.napus from the ASSYST diversity panel). Sequence data, genetic variants and expression data will be stored in a publicly accessible database, and visualised using TGAC’s genome browser. These data will be used to identify genes showing either sequence or expression variation associated with trait variation, for which molecular markers can then be developed for use in marker-assisted breeding.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Crop Science, Industrial Biotechnology, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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