Sunflower DNA map might yield plants for food and fuel
January 26th, 2010 - 12:49 am ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
London, Jan 25 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A US research project is going to map the DNA sequence of sunflowers, in the hope that one day it could lead to a new variety of food as well as fuel. This is a huge project and it is estimated to cost around $10.5 million.
Researchers are thinking of crossbreeding the standard sunflower and the Silverleaf species, which belongs to Texas. They aim to produce a hybrid, which has the bright yellow flowers having some tasty seeds. This hybrid would also have very thick stalks, which would contain complex sugars. And these complex sugars could then be turned to ethanol later for fuel.
The Silverleaf is actually a wild plant and it is drought-resistant as well. It is well known for its woody stalks, which can attain a height of over 4.5 meters and also be a huge 10 centimeters in diameter. “Since it’s the closest relative of the cultivated sunflower, it should be perhaps reasonably straightforward to move some of the traits,” said Loren Rieseberg. She is a University of British Columbia botany professor and is also leading the DNA sequencing project.
This is a huge project to the tune of over $10.5 million and it is funded by the Genome Canada through the Canadian government, Genome British Columbia, the U.S. Energy and Agriculture departments and France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research.
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Tags: agricultural research, agriculture departments, botany professor, bright yellow flowers, canadian government, centimeters, dna sequence, dna sequencing, ethanol, food and fuel, genome canada, huge project, london jan, loren rieseberg, sugars, sunflowers, tasty seeds, thick stalks, u s energy, university of british columbia
