Abstract
AbstractDue to the increasing popularity of Jatropha curcas as a feedstock for biodiesel, generating non-toxic and high yielding varieties of the plant requires genotypic characterization towards identifying breeding lines. There is little information on the phylogenetic relationships between its global accessions and species. Assessing genetic variation by RAPD, AFLP and combinatorial tubulin based polymorphism (cTBP) in 38 J. curcas accessions from 13 countries on 3 continents revealed narrow genetic diversity. However, 6 different species of Jatropha from India exhibited pronounced genetic diversity indicating possibilities of improving J. curcas by interspecific breeding. The relatively unexplored cTBP approach we used was a highly efficient and cost effective genotyping tool. Using such tools towards breeding J. curcas for low phorbol ester (PE) content is highly desirable because of the co-carcinogenic nature of the PEs present in all the commercially relevant parts such as seeds, seed-cake and biodiesel. We report initial success in obtaining interspecific F1 and back cross (BC1) plants with low PE and improved agronomic traits.Further efforts will lead to generating varieties with targeted traits. Despite the limited genetic diversity within J. curcas accessions, appreciable variability was noticed in important phenotypic, physiological and biochemical traits such as seed size, water use efficiency and seed oil content respectively. This implicates fundamental epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and posits J. curcas as a unique system to study them.
Highlights
Jatropha curcas is becoming an increasingly popular plant (Fearless, 2007; Nature editorial 2007) for its proposed value in the biodiesel, biopharmaceuticals, cosmetics and biopesticides industry (Gubitz et al, 1999; Kumar & Sharma, 2008)
One cluster contained all of the 17 J. curcas accessions and the second contained the out-group J. podagrica, which showed an overall similarity of 52% with J. curcas
The few studies on genotyping of J. curcas are based on assessing Indian accessions
Summary
Jatropha curcas is becoming an increasingly popular plant (Fearless, 2007; Nature editorial 2007) for its proposed value in the biodiesel, biopharmaceuticals, cosmetics and biopesticides industry (Gubitz et al, 1999; Kumar & Sharma, 2008). J. curcas cannot be an economically viable feedstock without reduction/elimination of the ANFs and varietal improvement for oil yield (Gressel, 2008; Kohli et al, 2009). Elimination of toxins such as curcins was recommended as one of the primary targets (Gressel, 2008) because curcin being similar to ricin has an immediate toxic, often fatal effect (Gressel, 2008).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
