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Heather Yates is a molecular biology technician with the group. She currently works on a variety of projects in conjucntion with the NSF Maize Diversity project. From heading up the candidate gene sequencing using ABI 3730 sequencing for short amplicons to grain quality phenotyping via NIR, she has played a part in many of the projects currnetly going in the Buckler lab. Her own smaller sub-project is an association study on kernel starch using NIR phnotyping and candidate gene sequencing for SNP genotyping. She also is very happily working on protocol and technique development for next generation sequencing platforms with other lab members.
Starch Project Starch is a major component of mature maize kernels, along with oil and protein. It is made up of several separable glucose polymers: Amylose is a linear polymer which affects starch gelatinization; Amylopectin is a highly branched polymer with a high molecular weight which affects starch pasting; and phytoglycogen is a soluble branched polymer. Depending on the specific needs of production, maize breeders would want to modify starch properties to affect pasting and viscosity. Recent studies have made use of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to determine maize kernel composition of starches, oils, and proteins. It is a rapid and non-destructive technique with very little sample preparation, making NIR ideal for this study. The connection of genotype to phenotype will allow the identification of useful alleles for improvement of grain quality in maize. Association mapping and linkage disequilibrium provide an interesting approach to dissecting the genetics of complex traits for crop improvement. This work focuses on associating starch traits, such as amylose/ amylopectin ratio, starch viscosity and pasting, with sequence variations. This study uses 288 diverse maize lines in an association mapping approach to locate DNA polymorphisms within 15 candidate genes identified as influencing kernel composition, starch synthesis and starch metabolism. The genes were PCR amplified and sequenced in both directions in the diverse inbreds. We will present the preliminary results of association analyses. This work focuses on starch traits such as starch content and amylose: amylopectin ratio. 
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