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Sustainable bioenergy for climate mitigation: developing drought-tolerant trees and grasses.
G Taylor1,2, I S Donnison3, D Murphy-Bokern4
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Annals of Botany
|October 31, 2019
Summary
Developing drought-tolerant bioenergy crops is crucial for climate change mitigation. Research focuses on identifying traits for biomass production on marginal lands, overcoming phenotyping bottlenecks, and utilizing genome editing for faster crop improvement.
Area of Science:
- Agricultural Science
- Plant Breeding
- Renewable Energy
Background:
- Bioenergy crops are key for climate mitigation strategies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
- Lignocellulosic crops (e.g., Populus, Miscanthus) are promising feedstocks but require domestication and drought tolerance for marginal land cultivation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define an ideotype for drought tolerance in bioenergy crops to ensure biomass production on marginal lands.
- To identify measurable traits for genome-wide association studies and genomic selection in these crops.
Main Methods:
- Defining an ideotype for drought tolerance with measurable traits.
- Utilizing next-generation sequencing and emerging genotyping technologies.
- Exploring genome editing for targeted trait manipulation (e.g., ABA receptors in Populus).
Main Results:
- Phenotyping is identified as the primary bottleneck in breeding progress, despite advances in genotyping.
- Genome editing shows potential for rapid development of drought-tolerant varieties.
Conclusions:
- Significant investment has been made in genomic resources and germplasm collection for bioenergy crops.
- Harnessing these resources to develop climate-resilient, drought-tolerant bioenergy crops presents a significant but achievable challenge.
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