{"id":443,"date":"2026-08-26T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/mckay\/?post_type=research&#038;p=443"},"modified":"2026-08-26T16:51:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:51:55","slug":"biomass-production","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/mckay\/research\/biomass-production\/","title":{"rendered":"Identification of Genes That Control Biomass Production Using Rice as a Model System\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- block -->\n<div class=\"custom-block-wrappper text-block stylized lite top-spacing-default bottom-spacing-default\">\n\n    <p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Principal Investigators:\u00a0 Daniel Bush, Colorado State\u00a0University\u00a0 Hei\u00a0Leung, International Rice Research Institute, Manila,\u00a0Philippines\u00a0 John\u00a0McKay, Colorado State\u00a0University\u00a0 Jan\u00a0E. Leach, Colorado State University<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Introduction<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Developing a sustainable biofuels program that makes significant contributions to the national energy budget requires unprecedented inputs of biomass for energy conversion. These crops must provide a net energy gain, be environmentally friendly, economically competitive, non-competitive with food supply, and be producible in\u00a0large quantities. Historically, focus on biofuel plants has been on those which placed more carbon in the harvested grain than on the rest of the plant\u00a0in order to\u00a0increase crop yield. The new \u201cenergy crops,\u201d however, must be vigorous growers that yield\u00a0maximum\u00a0dry biomass per acre. This can be\u00a0acheived\u00a0by maximizing growth of vegetative tissues\u00a0largely composed\u00a0of cell walls, since the available free energy in multicellular plants is found in the cell walls of vegetative issues. The consensus among biofuel researchers is that perennial grasses will be one of the \u201cnew energy\u201d crops developed for biomass production.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Our goal is to provide the applied biomass research community and industry with information to allow exploitation of the genes and pathways relevant to biomass accumulation in grasses. Our specific\u00a0objectives\u00a0include:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Objective 1:\u00a0Identify\u00a0genes involved in biomass accumulation. Using genetic populations for rice lines that exhibit extremes in biomass accumulation, we will (a) map QTL using a phenotyping\/genotyping approach, (b) confirm the QTL location and phenotyping effect, and (c) screen a deletion mutant collection to identify large deleted regions corresponding to biomass accumulation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Objective 2: Dissect the QTL using an integrated analysis. First, we will use an expedited approach to generating near isogenic lines\u00a0containing\u00a0each QTL. Second, we will integrate genome-wide data to refine the QTL regions including (a) association mapping, (b) expression profiling, (c) mutant analysis, (d) fine scale mapping, and (e) comprehensive sequencing of the QTL region.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Objective 3:\u00a0Validate\u00a0the significance of candidate genes or pathways in biomass accumulation by using RNAi, reverse genetic resources (insertion and deletion mutants) and overexpression coupled to a comprehensive analysis or\u00a0morophology\u00a0and physiology.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Objective 4: Integrate expression and mapping data into gene browser\/database to allow easy navigation and use of the data.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To approach these\u00a0objectives, we are using rice as a model system because of the powerful genetic and genomic resources available for rice. In addition, rice has\u00a0all of\u00a0the genes necessary for high biomass productivity. We\u00a0seek\u00a0to\u00a0identify\u00a0those genes to\u00a0expedite\u00a0improvement of productivity in candidate biomass plants (switchgrass, Miscanthus, etc.).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<!-- END block -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"class_list":["post-443","research","type-research","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/mckay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/mckay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/mckay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.agsci.colostate.edu\/mckay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}