In the grand scheme of things,
peanuts are behind, way behind. The
lack of disease resistance weighs
heavily on yield potential, and even
though load after load of peanuts may be
coming in this season, because of production
costs, peanuts are simply not as
competitive when compared to other
crops.
Eight years ago, the industry decided to
do something about it, and the American
Peanut Council, which represents all segments
of the peanut industry, authorized
The Peanut Foundation to organize and
coordinate peanut genomic research with
the goals of reducing the costs of production
and improving peanut yield and
quality.
Selecting An Approach
Genomics is the identification and
study of gene sequences in the DNA of
organisms, and this was determined as
the best way to improve the competitiveness
of peanut by enhancing varieties for
disease resistance and yield potential. To
develop better varieties through improved
breeding technologies, The Peanut Foundation
considered three different genomic
approaches: 1. genetic modification
(GMO); 2. marker assisted selection; and,
3. mutation breeding.
After researching each approach, the
Foundation’s technical group determined
that Marker Assisted Selection (MAS)
would be the best first step to deliver new
varieties, as there were drawbacks to both
GMO and mutation breeding until the
MAS portion was completed.
A molecular marker is a position within
the genome and is located relative to other
markers. But the value in breeding is not in knowing which marker is associated to
another marker, but which marker is associated
to a particular trait of interest.
Marker Assisted Selection is a breeding
method that relies on the use of DNA
molecular markers found in plants to
identify genes from a peanut variety that
confer a desired trait. This gives breeders
a time advantage in variety development.
Reducing Selection Time
The selection of the MAS approach
was in 2010, and at the time peanut
breeders had only about 6,000 DNAmarkers
identified and few of those were
associated with selectable or measurable
traits. For comparison, soybean and corn
scientists had more than 100,000 useful
DNA-markers, and the reason those researchers
had so many markers is because
DNA-markers were easier to discover after
the DNA sequence of the soybean and
corn genome was known.
To find the useful DNA-markers in
peanuts to be able to move forward with
MAS breeding, it would be necessary to
sequence the peanut genome.
George Birdsong, a member of The
Peanut Foundation’s Peanut Genomics
Initiative, says sequencing the peanut
genome and identifying genetic traits will
help speed up the natural development
of new peanut varieties with greater disease
resistance and improved quality traits.
“When all these improvements are implemented,
the industry will save possibly
hundreds of millions of dollars each year
in production and quality costs in addition
to significantly shortening the time
to get new varieties into the marketplace,”
Birdsong says.
Finding Industry Support
A framework for organizing efforts to
sequence the peanut genome was developed
through The Peanut Foundation,
but like everything else, nothing comes for
free. It would cost money, but all segments
of the industry agreed that it would
be an investment well worth making.
At that time, fundraising for the Peanut
Genomics Initiative Project began in
earnest, and The Peanut Foundation recently
announced that significant progress
has been made toward funding the project,
which is estimated to cost $6 million
over the next five years. The industry determined
that the best way to fund this
initiative was to divide the cost equally
among the three industry segments –
growers, shellers/buying points and manufacturers/
allied.
Peanut producers will provide funding
through the National Peanut Board, says
Birdsong.
“I’m pleased to announce that the growers,
through the National Peanut Board,
have proposed to provide up to $400,000
per year for a total of $2 million over the
course of the project, assuming all milestones
are met, and the USDA approves
the NPB budget annually,” he says.
“We see the importance of being progressive
in farming, and this type of work
takes collaboration across all segments,”
says Michael Davis, NPB research committee
chairman.
Beneficial To All Segments
The shelling segment, through the three
area sheller associations – the American
Peanut Shellers Association, Virginia Carolina
Peanut Shellers Association and
Southwest Peanut Shellers Association –
have also agreed to raise $400,000 per
year, for a total of $2 million over the
five-year period. This amount will come
from the shelling/buying point segments.
“Shellers see the need to reduce production
costs and improve quality. This
project is a major step in that direction,”
says Joe West, President of the American
Peanut Shellers Association.
Several manufacturers have already
made significant commitments and others
will be asked for financial support during
the coming months.
Moving Forward
“The work is moving on target and
with this new support from the growers,
shellers and manufacturers, it will allow us
to stay on track through 2013 and hopefully
beyond,” says Howard Valentine, executive
director of The Peanut Foundation,
who recently attended a Legume
Genomic and Genetic Conference in India
and heard from other legume groups
about their successes.
“Their data will be fed into the Legume
Information System (LIS) as will ours.
Having this data all in one computer resource
will allow us to access many of the
disease-preventing gene markers in
peanuts that have already been found in
these other legumes.”
Valentine says, “The Peanut Foundation
is extremely appreciative of the support
of the industry so far, which will allow
us to advance on developing disease
and quality gene markers that will assist
breeders in developing new varieties more
quickly and with more resistance to diseases
to reduce production costs and increase
yield for our growers.” PG
Improving Peanut Breeding
Barry Tillman, University of Florida peanut
breeder and professor in agronomy, explains
that breeders are currently unable to evaluate
thousands of individual plants for their
reaction to diseases such as white mold or
spotted wilt.
“Genetic markers could allow them to select
new plants for disease resistance in
early stages of the breeding process where
such testing is currently impractical,” he
says. “Although much work remains to be
done, these tools should eventually give
peanut breeders the ability to improve the
entire breeding process and to deliver new
peanut varieties faster.”
Two traits peanut breeders have markers
for are nematode resistance and high oleic
oil chemistry.
“Those are two relatively simple traits,
but other traits, particularly disease resistance,
are much more complex,” says Peggy
Ozias-Akins, University of Georgia professor
of horticulture, who in 2011 was elected
fellow of The American Association for the
Advancement of Science.
“Knowing the sequence of the peanut
genome will allow for the comparison of a lot
of different genotypes of peanut from the
germplasm collection to modern cultivars
and really hone in on what variation is there,
and it will allow us to develop more molecular
markers,” Ozias-Akins says. PG |
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