By Madhuri Dey
Jan 25, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A new research project has been launched that aims at mapping the DNA of sunflowers. The project, called the Genomics of Sunflower, is funded by the Genome Canada, via the government of Canada, and is worth about $10.5 millions. It is also being funded by the United States Energy and Agriculture Departments, the Genome BC, and the National Institute of Agricultural Research in France.

The project was launched with the idea that it would help in the production of a new variety of food as well as fuel. According to the researchers, the project would be based on the idea of creating a new hybrid variety of the sunflower, a cross of the standard kind and the Silverleaf variety that grows in Texas. This particular variety has been chosen as it is the nearest kin of the normally cultivated variety of the flower. There is another, and a more important reason for zeroing in on the Silverleaf variety. This particular kind is characterized by thick, woody stems, it grows wild, and is resistant to droughts. Moreover, being the nearest in lineage to the cultivated kind of the sunflower, it would be relatively easier to crossbreed the two, and move the traits in the DNA sequence.

It is being expected that the research is going to yield a variety of sunflowers that would contain more number of seeds and greater concentration of complex sugars, which may later be transformed into ethanol. The research also aims at reducing the time that it normally takes to create a hybrid, and the scientists state that they would be attempting to complete it within four years.