Genomic resources of manioc (Manihot esculenta) for the evolutionary study of cultivated varieties and in the search of important genes for breeding

• Grant number: 18/00036-9
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): October 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal researcher: Anete Pereira de Souza
• Grantee: Alessandro Alves Pereira
• Home Institution: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is the staple food crop that originated in Amazonia that reached the biggest importance in the world, and is currently the eight most cultivated crop. Cultivated manioc (ssp. esculenta) was domesticated from M. esculenta ssp. flabellifolia, and currently two major groups of varieties (sweet and bitter manioc) are cultivated. The objective of this proposal is generating novel genomic resources for manioc through the whole genome re-sequencing of accessions of wild manioc using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. Additionally, we intend to evaluate the molecular variation of genes with signatures of selection among cultivated manioc and the wild ancestor. Using target-sequencing, SNP markers will be identified in coding and non-coding portions of these genes to characterize functional genetic variation. New allelic and structural variants may be detected increasing the knowledge about the species' biology. The functional characterization these genes may evidence which cellular processes may have been affected during the evolution of the crop. Furthermore, whole genome re-sequencing will facilitate molecular marker discovery that may be used in genetic mapping applied to the crop's breeding.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BRITO, FABIANY DE ANDRADE; ZUCCHI, MARIA IMACULADA; PINHEIRO, JOSE BALDIN; ARRIGONI-BLANK, MARIA DE FATIMA; DEQUIGIOVANNI, GABRIEL; GRANDO, CAROLINA; BATISTA, CARLOS EDUARDO; ALVES-PEREIRA, ALESSANDRO; BLANK, ARIE FITZGERALD. Low diversity in the native populations of Croton tetradenius Baill. when using SNP markers: a future crop with an insecticidal activity. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, APR 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

MOURA, Y. A.; ALVES-PEREIRA, A.; DA SILVA, C. C.; SOUZA, L. M.; DE SOUZA, A. P.; KOEHLER, S. Secondary origin, hybridization and sexual reproduction in a diploid-tetraploid contact zone of the facultatively apomictic orchid Zygopetalum mackayi. Plant Biology, v. 22, n. 5, p. 939-948, SEP 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.

ALVES-PEREIRA, ALESSANDRO; NOVELLO, MARIANA; DEQUIGIOVANNI, GABRIEL; PINHEIRO, JOSE BALDIN; BRANCALION, PEDRO H. S.; VEASEY, ELIZABETH ANN; CLEMENT, CHARLES R.; DE SOUZA, ANETE PEREIRA; ZUCCHI, MARIA IMACULADA. Genomic Diversity of Three Brazilian Native Food Crops Based on Double-Digest Restriction Site-Associated DNA Sequencing. TROPICAL PLANT BIOLOGY, v. 12, n. 4, p. 268-281, DEC 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

ALVES-PEREIRA, ALESSANDRO; CLEMENT, CHARLES R.; PICANCO-RODRIGUES, DORIANE; VEASEY, ELIZABETH ANN; DEQUIGIOVANNI, GABRIEL; FERREYRA RAMOS, SANTIAGO LINORIO; PINHEIRO, JOSE BALDIN; DE SOUZA, ANETE PEREIRA; ZUCCHI, MARIA IMACULADA. A population genomics appraisal suggests independent dispersals for bitter and sweet manioc in Brazilian Amazonia. EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS, v. 13, n. 2 OCT 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.