Digital methods for applied precision genomics, network analysis and technology development to promote the plant-based bioeconomy.
The digitization of genetic resources through the development of innovative, high-throughput methods for genomic, metagenomic and epigenomic characterization is a central goal of the DIAMANT project.
To achieve this, the project is creating the elementary basis for the application of long-read sequencing by developing a high-throughput method for the extraction of HMW DNA in the plant domain.
In combination with this key technology, the digital method of long-read genotyping (LRGT) is being developed in DiP-DIAMANT.
This will create a digital basis for complex crop species (including polyploid wheat) in order to be able to apply the latest methods of precision genomics.
DiP-DIAMANT will use the cost-effective LRGT method to construct a wheat pangenome that integrates the parents of the WM800 MAGIC population as well as current elite varieties, thus establishing a highly up-to-date resource.
The innovative analysis methods developed will subsequently allow breeding companies, for example, to optimize their variety development and thus the process of their value creation in a targeted manner.
Furthermore, the LRGT hybrid approach makes it possible to significantly enhance existing genotyping data by integrating it into the pangenome.
In addition, digital breeding methods are being used to make specialty crops that have hardly been recorded genetically usable for the plant-based bioeconomy.
Another goal in the digital development of genomic resources is the establishment of the key technology of single-cell transcriptome sequencing (ETS).
This method is the first to record the expression of individual genes at the level of individual cells in order to measure cell type-specific signals.
This process basis makes it possible to study biosynthetic pathways and signaling cascades in a targeted manner.
The combined expertise of the project will be incorporated into teaching (academic training) and further training (scientists) and thus promote specialists in the digital expertise of bioinformatic sequence data analysis and plant genomics.
The DIAMANT project aims to develop a marker system for long-read genotyping (LRGT) together with state-of-the-art, AI-based methods for plant breeding and the plant-based bioeconomy.
Resilient varieties that can better withstand the challenges of climatic changes and can be cultivated in a more resource-efficient way thanks to better nutrient balances are the sound basis for better products along the value chain within the plant-based bioeconomy (sustainability).
Plant breeding is a key factor on this path and the DIAMANT project aims to optimize central tools for this with the help of automation technologies and digital methods.
DIAMANT is complemented by other biotechnological and bioinformatic methods that enable cost-efficient and high-throughput studies of the epigenome (EpiHD) and metagenome (MetaPLEX).
This provides great added value, for example, in the characterization of agricultural environments (sites) by better characterizing them through epigenetic screening (EpiHD) and metagenomic screening (MetaPLEX) in the environmental factors epigenetics and microbiome.
With single cell technology (EZT), a further method is to be introduced and established in the domain of complex crop plants, which enables gene activity to be investigated at the best possible resolution (cell level instead of tissue).
The former Central German Review Southern Saxony-Anhalt will become a center of excellence for bioinformatics methods to accelerate the development of active plant ingredients and plant breeding by incorporating the key technologies of long-read sequencing and single-cell technology.
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