X-Ray Induced Mutagenesis in Sunflower Pollen
Abstract
The identification of new sunflower hybrids that have desirable traits depends on the availability of adequate genetic resources. A critical part of sunflower breeding is to find and recombine genetic variability into inbred lines that address modern agricultural challenges. Such genetic variation can come from standing genetic variation, crop-wild relatives, or via mutagenesis, transformation, and gene editing. The use of one standard mutagenesis resource in sunflower has not yet been established but has the potential to enrich genetic variability in this crop, provide for collaborative study, and thus assist with breeding for desirable traits. This project aims to generate a mutagenesis population and methodology for sunflower using x-ray radiation. By using a 50-Gray dose of radiation from a medical linear accelerator, mutagenesis was successfully induced in sunflower at an effective, yet non-lethal level. This paper outlines the methodology behind this project and the resulting mutants.