MAREK MARZEC (author of photographs)
IWONA SZAREJKO (project manager)

University of Silesia,
Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Departament of Genetics;
Jagiellońska 28, 40-032 Katowice,
e-mail: marek.marzec@us.edu.pl

Description popularizing the research project

If you want to know a gene, try mutating it. It may sound a bit drastic, as too many bad horrors we have seen to trust such a research method. Maybe we should even put the word “research" in the quotation marks. Just in case...
Yet using punctual mutations in strictly controlled laboratory conditions is a method providing us with exceptionally valuable data, which is hard to obtain in a different way. The method of accidental mutation seems genius in its simplicity. All you have to do is to grow some species in the laboratory e.g. barley, then expose it to a mutagenic factor and... simply wait to see what has happened. The results may vary. Punctual mutations may take place in an unpredictable fragment of the nucleic acid chain. Then, with a bit of luck, the mutation may manifest itself in an unexpected way. It may change the shape of the plant or color of its leaves, shorten or lengthen the root or the ear. Some of the distinctive changes may not be observed with a naked eye. It may turn out that a plant with no visible changes distinguishing it from the rest, will have the metabolism altered. Genetic examination which the individuals undergo let us indicate where the mutation has actually taken place. The next step is to describe functioning of the mutated gene.
It is crucial to know how the barley, corn, wheat and rice genes work, as they play the crucial role in the strategy to feed human population. The research may help grow plants which will withstand long terms of drought or be able to tolerate other harmful conditions. Knowing the functions of genes may have great importance for the food production in the nearest future.
Destruction and decomposition are perfect methods to learn how mechanisms function. The slogan: “if you want to know how your car works, break it", may not sound encouraging and it may be costly too, yet in genetics it makes perfect sense.

Abstract

TILLING (Targeted Induced Local Lesions In Genomes) is a powerful technique used in functional genomics. TILLING permits the identification of plants that bear mutations in specific genes. The method is more precise and cheaper than other techniques used for analysis of gene function. In addition, the population of mutant plants once generated is a valuable resource that can be used for isolating and analyzing other mutated alleles afterwards.
Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is one of the major cereals cultivated in Poland. It is essential to identify barley genes controlling yield, grain quality and plant tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. The knowledge of functions of barley genes will help plant breeders to create new types of barley, high yielding and better adapted to the climate changes.
One of the major limitations in crop production worldwide is deficiency of water. This problem is very serious in the face of needs to provide food for the growing human population. Modern biotechnological techniques should assume production of crops without increase of wasted water. It may be possible if cultivation of plants that are more tolerant to drought and water deficit is obtained.
Department of Genetics is realizing a project whose objective is to create a TILLING barley population for functional genomics. This population will be used for studying functions of chosen barley genes and for selecting new plant types, better adapted to the changing climatic conditions in Poland. The obtained results in combination with bioinformatics methods can also help in identifying genes that are homologues to the fundamental genes of other crops.