Scientists associated with the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Silesia have been conducting research for several years, thanks to which it will be possible to accelerate the breeding of new crop varieties of great economic importance. The effects of these activities include methods to increase the efficiency of spring barley cultivation (see the article “Patents Accelerating the Breeding of New Barley Varieties”). The group of innovative solutions includes, among others a method of identifying cultivars of interest in the process of androgenesis. Under this slogan hides an extremely interesting phenomenon that allows the plant to regenerate immediately from an unripe pollen grain, i.e. the so-called microspores. As Monika Gajecka, PhD, co-author of the solution, explains, this method shortens the process of obtaining the plants of interests significantly. One of the key stages of plant reproduction, namely fertilization and a several-year cycle of crossing is skipped.
However, reprogramming a plant may be associated with developmental disorders of chloroplasts at an early stage of differentiation, the so-called proplastids. It happens that instead of green organisms, scientists obtain white plants, devoid of chlorophyll, albino plants, and therefore plants that are not viable. They are unable to perform photosynthesis.
The solution may be to assess the ability of the tested material to regenerate green plants in the androgenesis process before it begins. Scientists have developed a special method enabling this assessment. Thanks to it, it is possible to choose the best in vitro culture initiation procedure and breeders will be able to select the appropriate genotypes for crossing and more effectively plan the breeding work. In practice, this means a significant increase in the probability of obtaining green plants in the process of androgenesis and the elimination of albino plants that are unable to function independently.
The authors of the solution under patent protection are: Monika Gajecka, PhD, Prof. Iwona Szarejko, Beata Chmielewska, PhD, Janusz Jelonek, MA, and Justyna Zbieszczyk.
