Performing Department
Crop Sciences
Non Technical Summary
As the age of the world population continues to increase, so does the incidence of aging-related diseases. In 2015 alone, the United States spent 3.2 trillion dollars on healthcare expenses (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2015). Furthermore, healthcare spending is very age-dependent. Nearly half a person's lifetime medical expenses are incurred in their later years (Alemayehu and Warner, 2004; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2012). The consumption of hydroxycinnamic acids as part of a life-long diet has been shown to prevent the incidence of aging-related diseases (Adam et al., 2002; Ames et al., 1993; Fresco et al., 2006; Scapagnini et al., 2011). While the hydroxycinnamic acids tend to be bound to the cell walls in grains, these phytochemicals tend to be in their soluble form in fresh fruits and vegetables (Adam et al., 2002; Adom and Liu, 2002). As such, doctors have traditionally recommended the consumption of fresh produce as a preventative measure against aging-related diseases. However, the consumption of fresh produce follows a socioeconomic gradient. Individuals from poorer socioeconomic classes are more likely to purchase processed, calorie-dense foods than fresh produce (Darmon and Drewnowski, 2008; Drewnowski and Darmon, 2005). Thus, the extraction of hydroxycinnamic acids from maize for use as a food-additive in processed food products presents an opportunity to make the health benefits of hydroxycinnamic acids available to all people, regardless of socioeconomic class.While the health benefits of the hydroxycinnamic acids are therefore well-documented, these phytochemicals are relatively laborious to study, even with high-throughput protocols (Butts-Wilmsmeyer and Bohn, 2016). Thus, given the high heritability of the hydroxycinnamic acids (Butts-Wilmsmeyer, 2016) and their importance to the overall health of society, these phytochemicals are ideal for the initial study of the use of genomic approaches for the advancement of quality traits in maize. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is an ideal location to initiate genomic research for quality traits in maize. This university has a long tradition of breeding for quality traits, as exemplified by the Long-Term Selection experiments. Field, computing, and laboratory facilities are all available for use, and many faculty at the University of Illinois are already engaged in research endeavors which explore the applicability of genomics approaches to various plant breeding goals. This research, if funded, would provide them with an additional resource with which to examine quality, high-value traits using similar genomics techniques.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
30%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
1. Develop a grain quality testing lab that could be used as a departmental resource not only for this project but also for future projects and collaborations.2. Phenotype representative grain samples and use that data for genomic analysis. This will ultimately enable the development of genomic selection models designed specifically for plant breeding programs in the U.S. Midwest.3. Develop training population for genomic selection for hydroxycinnamic acids.4. Attend scientific meetings to ensure the most current analytical chemistry and genomics procedures are being employed.5. Provide research and educational opportunities for undergraduate students.
Project Methods
1. Laboratory, field, and computing facilities are available for this study. However, while a gas chromatograph - mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) system is available for use, this system must be updated and new columns must be purchased before it will be fully functional. The laboratory must also be organized so that it can handle multiple projects simultaneously. Initially, collaborators will meet quarterly to assess the progress toward the establishment of an efficient grain quality testing lab. Upon successful establishment, collaborators will meet annually to ensure the grain quality testing lab is continuing to meet the needs of the department or if adjustments are needed to better serve the needs of the department.2. Representative grain samples from 697 inbred lines which collectively exhibit a large proportion of the diversity in commercial maize germplasm will be harvested, cleaned, ground to a fine powder, and prepared for laboratory analysis. The samples will then be analyzed using the procedure outlined in Butts-Wilmsmeyer and Bohn (2016). Imputed genotype-by-sequence (GBS) data is available for download from www.panzea.org. The downloaded genotypic data and the collected phenotypic data will be used to develop genomic selection models for the selection of maize quality traits.3. Using the results generated from Objective 2and phenotypic data generated from testcrosses, individuals will be selected to create a genomic selection panel. This panel will then be used in conjunction with R software packages, such as GAPIT and rrBLUP, to build a genomic selection model for the prediction of hydroxycinnamic acid content of plants that have been genotyped but not phenotyped. Analogous procedures can be employed to build genomic selection models for other quality traits, as well.4. The personnel involved in this project will plan to attend at least one scientific meeting per year, including the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference (www.intlpag.org). Other scientific meetings may include the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International meetings (https://acsmeetings.org) or the meetings hosted by the American Chemical Society (ACS).5. Research activities will be divided in such a way as to teach undergraduate students skill sets which will be helpful when applying for graduate school or future employment opportunities. Independent study projects will be created for the students upon request.