Screening natural variability for carrot breeding application – a target gene approach

In traditional plant breeding, selected elite breeding lines play an important role as a source for building-up and improving breeding populations. Currently, the focus for using wild relatives together with landraces in breeding programs is gaining more attention in the context of global climate changes. Differences in plant growth adaptation under varying environmental conditions with consequences on stability of plant biomass and yield production is genetically determined. Genetic variation has been shown to affect alternative respiration. Alternative oxidase (AOX), a key enzyme in the alternative respiration pathway, is implicated in plant tolerance to diverse biotic and abiotic stresses across species, especially the AOX1-subfamily gene members. In the ongoing project EXCL/AGR-PRO/0038/2012, the existence of polymorphisms within the AOX1 gene sequences that could mark plant adaptation to specific climatic conditions is being explored. The main objective of this project is to bring natural gene diversity to carrot plant breeding by exploring efficient strategies for the development of functional markers.