Genotyping and its application in Agriculture
Ever wondered why living organisms differ amongst each other? Any biological organism can be broadly defined by two terms, i.e., the “Phenotype” and the “Genotype”. Phenotype can be defined as the set of all the phenotypic characters observed in an organism, while the genotype represents all the genes in an organism. Differences within the gene content occurs which results into the different characteristics. Genetic differences (variation) occur in all species including plants. To identify such type of variation amongst individuals or in a population is called as “genotyping”.
Genotyping: -An Introduction
Researchers or scientists are mostly interested in the genetic content of individuals and their variation responsible for a specific physical trait. Furthermore, these genetic traits can pass down through the next generations transferring the traits. Genotyping is a method that helps in the identification of variants or differences in the genotype. These differences are in the form of single nucleotide variants(SNP's), insertions and deletions etc. The most common type of sequence variant to be observed is the SNP’s.
Genotyping in Agriculture
With the increase in the population, it has become a major focus to improve the yield of crop. Sustainable ways of food production are always a major concern. Here, comes the application of genomics which tries to identify traits in plants that helps them to survive even in the harsh conditions. A common term used in the field of agriculture is “Agriculture genomics” which means applying genomics in Agriculture. Genetic variation can lead to physical traits that might help to improve the fitness of the organism. Identifying these markers is a powerful approach to promote the fitness of the plants or the crops for a sustainable future. With time, the cost of genome sequencing has further reduced enabling the sequencing of multiple plants all together.
Marker identification through NGS
Majority of the crops are nowadays being sequenced which helps in exploring the underlying mechanism governing the physical traits. With the availability of the genomes of such plants, other areas have evolved for providing insight at different stages of the plants. The sequenced genome is compared to a reference genome and variants are observed. Thousands of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism markers has been identified in several crops.
Eurofins Genomics India provides genotyping services such as identifying purity markers, trait markers and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) etc.
- For any type of services, the workflow first starts with the extraction of DNA from the samples. The analysis of the DNA then depends on customer requirements such as the plant breeding applications where Eurofins can identify associations of key marker-trait. This is achieved through their discovery platforms such as microarrays, whole genome sequencing, etc.
- With the team of bioinformaticians, markers can be selected for any downstream applications.
- The availability of multiple platforms under one roof leads to flexible and accurate solutions at low cost.
Reference:
- Entailing the Next-Generation Sequencing and Metabolome for Sustainable Agriculture by Improving Plant Tolerance. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jan 7;23(2):651. doi: 10.3390/ijms23020651
- Bioinformatics for agriculture in the Next-Generation sequencing era. Chem. Biol. Technol. Agric. 3, 9 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-016-0054-8