From UF/IFAS University of Florida Blogs
by Brad Buck
UF Scientists Sequence Vanilla Genome, Could Support Domestic Industry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University
of Florida scientists have sequenced the genome of Vanilla, which will
help them select the best types for breeding new varieties of the
popular plant to grow in Florida.
Some consumers crave vanilla.
The U.S. leads the world in imported vanilla beans, said Alan Chambers,
an assistant professor of tropical fruit breeding and genetics at the
UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Madagascar grows about
80 percent of the world’s vanilla, but that island lies thousands of
miles from the companies that buy vanilla beans and convert them to
extract.
That’s why Chambers is leading a group of scientists trying to develop new Vanilla varieties to grow in Florida.
In
new research published in the journal Scientific Reports, Chambers and
Elias Bassil — a UF/IFAS assistant professor of plant stress physiology
— led a group of researchers that established a Vanilla collection with
112 potentially unique individuals.
These individual plants
create the basis from which a scientist can select the best plant for
commercialization and genes needed to produce ideal Vanilla varieties
through conventional breeding, Chambers said. With the new findings,
researchers can see which types of Vanilla grow best in Florida and
which might have useful genetics for plant breeding.
In
their research, scientists also constructed a “draft
genome” of Vanilla DNA, a basic version of all of the DNA in
Vanilla.
The
genome is all the DNA in an organism that contains the instructions for
how it should do everything. For vanilla, this includes functions like
how to make leaves or roots, how the plant responds to pathogens and
how the plants make the aroma of the beans, said Chambers, a faculty
member at the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center in
Homestead, Florida.
Chambers described the findings and their implications in simple terms.
“If
a genome was a car, a draft genome would be a basic vehicle with no
frills — no radio, no air conditioning, no power windows,” he said. “It
does some things just fine, like getting you to work. The next step is
to go from the basic vehicle to a luxury sports car.”
“So, while it’s only a draft genome, it’s a great resource for the scientific community,” he said.
Some surprises from this study included the identification of Vanilla hybrids between different species, Chambers said.
In the U.S. and Europe, you can only use two types of Vanilla beans — Vanilla planifolia
and Tahitian vanilla — and call it “vanilla extract,” he said. This
study identifies those individual plants that would clearly fall within
these labeling requirements and allow a grower to access premium
markets within the current regulatory framework.
Chambers envisions specialty market opportunities for South Florida farmers who want to grow Vanilla.
“Alternatively,
the identified hybrids could represent a unique branding opportunity if
a grower wants to produce something unique in all the world,” Chambers
said. “These hybrids will most likely have distinct aromas and disease
resistance. Now we can focus on a handful of promising Vanilla types to
accelerate our objective to bring Vanilla cultivation in Florida one
step closer to reality.”
The mission of the University of
Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is to develop
knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to
make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of
human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county
Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS works to bring
science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural
resources industries, and all Florida residents. Visit the UF/IFAS web
site at ifas.ufl.edu and follow us on social media at @UF_IFAS.
|
|