NKJ 120 Functional Genomics of Starch and Grain Quality

A common set of barley cultivars and varieties, about 20 lines in total, will be subjected to analysis on each level of organization and the data will be combined using systems-based data-mining tools. Norway will concentrate on 8 of these lines with focu s on low starch/high beta-glucan level. Expression array analyses, perhaps the most expensive component, will be made collaboratively by the Norwegian and Finnish groups using identical protocols. The proteome level will be analyzed by the Swedish group, and the carbohydrate and starch analyses carried out by the Danish partners. Positional cloning and reverse-genetic confirmation of the candidate genes will be carried out collaboratively using the tools available to the Swedish, Finnish, and Norwegian Pa rtners. Expression analyses will exploit the new Affymetrix arrays for barley to which the Finnish partner contributed, as well as supplementary arrays for genes available to them from their own genome project. The Norwegian partner has an Affymetrix node , facilitating this plan. The proteomics analyses will be made within a major infrastructural investment in Sweden, and the carbohydrate analyses will rely on cutting-edge technologies developed by the Danish partners. The project is planned for three yea rs, with the analyses on each level running in parallel. A key consideration is that such a project can be carried out at present for barley, due to the advanced state of its research, but not for the other key Nordic grains (oat, rye, wheat). However, du e to these crops' genetic similarity to barley, the results will be directly applicable to them, in follow-on national or Nordic projects. Hence, barley is both a target crop and with direct practical importance and a gateway to the other Nordic grains.