New MutChromSeq technique makes valuable genes easier to find.
Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have applied an innovative technique to the analysis of wheat and barley genomes that makes it easier to pinpoint specific genes that might be used in crop improvement programmes.
Identifying the gene for an interesting trait that might help you breed better crops isn’t always easy — especially if you’re working with wheat or barley.
But scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have applied an innovative technique to the wheat and barley genomes that makes it easier to pinpoint specific genes that might be used in crop improvement programmes.
But locating the gene for a particular plant trait can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack — it’s a small, specific sequence of DNA mixed up in a jumble of other genes, regulatory sequences and non-coding DNA.
So how does MutChromSeq work?
"Take the bread wheat genome, for example: this has 21 chromosomes, so with flow sorting, we can separate Chromosome 1 from Chromosome 2, and from Chromosome 3, and so on.
Then, by running MutChromSeq analysis on these mutant plants, the sequence of the mutated chromosomes can be compared with that of the unmutated chromosome.
Dr Wulff said: "By looking for the differences in sequence between the mutated and wild-type chromosomes, we can identify genes without knowing anything about their structure beforehand.
Rapid gene isolation in barley and wheat by mutant chromosome sequencing.