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Project properties |
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| Title | Identifying loci that regulate seed dormancy and seed longevity |
| Group | Plant Physiology, Laboratory of |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 12-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Leo Willems and Leonie Bentsink |
| Examiner(s) | Prof. Dr. Leonie Bentsink |
| Contact info | leo.willems@wur.nl, leonie.bentsink@wur.nl AND thesis.PPH@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2023/09/01 |
| End date | 2026/09/30 |
| Description | Two major characteristics that control seed quality are seed dormancy and seed longevity (storability). Knowledge on the genetic control of dormancy and seed longevity is essential to breed varieties that have the required level of seed dormancy but that are storable for longer times.
In this project we use natural variation present in accessions of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to identify positions in the Arabidopsis genome that significantly affect seed dormancy and or seed longevity. Two Arabidopsis accessions, Landsberg erecta and Platris have been used to develop a double haploid population. This population has been phenotyped for seed dormancy and seed longevity. The aim of the thesis project is to identify loci that regulate seed dormancy and/or seed longevity. The project: To identify the loci that regulate seed dormancy and/or seed longevity first a genetic map needs to be developed. For this the genomic DNA of the two accessions will be screened for polymorphic markers (PCR markers). Ones these have been identified the population can be genotyped with these markers. Based on the genotype information a genetic map is constructed. This map is used for the so-called QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) mapping, by which loci that affect the phenotypic traits can be identified based on statistical analyses. This project is ideal for thesis projects of smaller size (i.e. 12 ects) since it can be easily dived in smaller parts (i.e. analyses per chromosome, and/or fraction of the population) so that still the whole procedure can we taken in the thesis time. References: � Alonso-Blanco, C. and Koornneef, M. (2000) Naturally occurring variation in Arabidopsis: an underexploited resource for plant genetics. Trends in plant science, 5, 22-29. � Alonso-Blanco C, Bentsink L, Hanhart CJ, Blankenstein-de Vries H, Koornneef M (2003) Analysis of natural allelic variation at seed dormancy loci of Arabidopsis thaliana. Genetics 164: 711-729 If you are interested in this project please contact the supervisor via email with a copy to thesis.PPH@wur.nl with: 1. Your motivation for choosing this project 2. For which purpose (BSc or MSc thesis, research practice, etc) 3. Your BSc/MSc program 4. When you would like to start Please be aware that if you do not provide the required information above it may cause a delay in our reply. |
| Used skills | Data mining and experimental work: DNA isolation, genotyping, PCR, construction of a genetic map, quantitative trait locus analyses. |
| Requirements | Basic knowledge on plant biology, genetics and molecular biological techniques |