Project Description
This undergraduate experience will be integrated in a new research project in my lab where we will use a genome wide association study to link genotype and phenotype for traits promoting higher biofuel yield from the seaweed Macrocystis pyrifera, the giant kelp. In the first year of this project we will create a germplasm collection containing 600 cultures of giant kelp gametophytes. These cultures will be isolated from spores released by sporophylls that will be collected in wild populations (Southern California, USA). Given the appropriate growth conditions, these cultures can be maintained in a vegetative state of growth (clonal) and increase their biomass. Once sufficient biomass is produced we will cross different clones to perform our breeding scheme and outplant the resulting sporophytes in a ocean farm located in California where they will be phenotyped. Each culture will also be genotyped at thousand of single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) loci. The work associated with isolating and growing the gametohyte cultures will be conducted in my lab using different environmental chambers. There are plenty of opportunities to promote undergraduate experience in this project; from the tasks associated with seaweed culturing techniques to molecular biology methods associated with seaweed DNA extraction and genotyping.
Tasks and Responsibilites
1) Isolate individual gametophytes from hundreds of different sporophylls samples.
2) Prepare different seaweed culture mediums
3) Maintain cultures including medium replacement and clone fragmentation to promote vegetative growth.
4) Extract DNA from gametophyte tissue.
5) Amplify microsatellite genetic markers to check for culture purity.
Desired Qualifications
None Listed