Biotech Updates

UK to Build World's First 'Library' of Potato Mutants

July 10, 2013

The James Hutton Institute will undertake a three-year research project to build the world's first 'library' of potato mutants which can be used as an information resource for further genetic research and development of valuable strains. The project will be led by Dr. Glenn Bryan, who said "Potato, despite its global importance as a crop, has never been subjected to the same types of mutational analysis as models and other crop plants. By making a library of mutants and using the genome sequence we can make great progress in understanding potato traits."

Working on a £382,000 fund from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Dr. Bryan said the grant will allow them to understand potato traits in a larger scale and develop their first mutant panel. Once developed, the mutant panel will be assessed for variation in traits relevant to potato breeding such as tuber characteristics, plant architecture traits, and tuber sprouting. A panel of around 100 interesting mutants will be selected for further study.

For more information about this research, read the news release from the James Hutton Institute available at: http://www.hutton.ac.uk/news/new-research-creating-first-library-potato-mutants.