Plant & Animal Genomes XVI Conference

January 12-16, 2008
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

TILLING And EcoTILLING In Banana

Bradley J Till¹ , Joanna Jankowicz-Cieslak¹ , Joy Nakitandwe¹ , Souleymane Bado¹ , Mirta Matijevic¹ , Rownak Afza¹ , Pierre JL Lagoda² , Chikelu Mba¹

¹  Plant Breeding Unit, Joint FAO/IAEA Agriculture & Biotechnology Laboratory, International Atomic Energy Agency Laboratories, A-2444 Seibersdorf, Austria

²  Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramer Strasse 5, PO Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria

Rapid plant sequence information growth coupled with the advancement of genomics tools that can be applied to many species promises to speed up the development of new plant varieties. This is important in the context of the population growth and climate change predicted for the 21st century. We are focused on understanding and developing varieties of Musa acuminata that show resistance to Mycosphaerella fijiensis, the causative agent of black Sigatoka disease. Because banana is a major food crop in some developing nations, the generation of resistant varieties should help in increasing food security, a goal of the FAO/IAEA Joint Programme. To identify and characterize genes involved in disease resistance, we have adopted the TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) strategy. TILLING is a general reverse genetic technique that combines mutation induction in a population of individuals followed by high throughput screening for mutations in target genomic regions by PCR and enzymatic mismatch cleavage. EMS mutagenized populations of the Grand Naine variety are being developed. We are also evaluating the utility of gamma irradiation for TILLING different varieties of banana including Calcutta4. In parallel, we are developing the EcoTILLING technique with the goal of identifying natural nucleotide polymorphisms in diploid and triploid varieties that are linked to or causing variation in disease resistance. We hope that the development of mutagenized populations for reverse genetic screens, and the optimization of TILLING and EcoTILLING in banana, will become useful resources for the Musa research community.