Sub sections:
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Use of gene-targeted DNA markers for genetic analysis of breeding material in durum wheat
Honours project
Recently several new and simple gene targeted DNA markers methods have been developed in crops including start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphism and conserved DNA derived polymorphism (CDDP) have been developed. These methods preferentially target plant genes by primer design and are technically simple and relatively cheap to use.
This project would involve the optimization of these techniques in durum wheat and genetic diversity analysis in core breeding material of the Australian Durum Wheat Improvement Program (ADWIP) and international durum germplasm. Important DNA markers would be converted into locus specific markers by DNA sequencing. The student would learn fundamental techniques in molecular biology such as DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing. The student would learn important techniques in data analysis such as classification and ordination, and DNA sequence analysis using bioinformatics tools.
Supervisors
Dr. Bert Collard (DII)
Dr. Shubiao Wu (UNE)
Prof. John Gibson (UNE)