Posted on January, 27, 2022 at 09:02 am
After living in Brazil as a professor at the University of Brasilia and studying peanuts, David Bertioli and his wife Soraya Bertioli are working in the lab again at the University of Georgia to create peanuts that are resistant to certain diseases.
When it comes to agriculture, diseases and pests cause significant challenges to farmers. To prevent the spread of diseases or eliminate the problem, farmers either spray their plants with pesticides or cultivate plants with genetic resistance.
“The focus is that we use wild species to bring in genetic diversity into the peanut crop,” UGA professor and graduate research assistantship distinguished investigator David Bertioli said.
Bertioli, who studies peanut genetics and evolution, said the achievement of this genetic diversity involves cross-pollinating desired peanut traits with the traits from wild species of peanuts in the Georgia, Florida and North Carolina regions.
“We then have to use genetics, assays of diseases, field assays and selection, over a number of generations. What we do is we go select all of the good things about the cultivated field leading up to the cultivated peanut,” Bertioli said.
Assays are a biological testing process used to determine the amount of a certain gene or characteristic in the peanut.
Bertioli chooses the desired traits from wild peanuts used to create a resistance in the cultivated plants.
“Essentially it’s a bit like a 23andMe for peanuts,” Bertioli said.
The chromosomes obtained from the wild peanuts have various genes that build up a defense mechanism for fighting diseases and pests. Bertioli uses DNA markers to identify which of the chromosomes contain the resistance.
When beginning the process, Bertioli has to recreate the hybrid peanuts by doubling the amount of chromosomes. After this, the peanuts are crossed together.
This process repeats with numerous peanut samples, until a desired trait or genetic resistances is developed throughout the various generations.
The type of resistance Bertioli develops in the peanuts depends on the most prevalent diseases in different parts of the world. Bertioli works with peanuts grown in various countries such as Nicaragua, Haiti, Senegal, Uganda and Brazil.
Bertioli uses newly-developed technology and methodologies with genome sequencing to identify a source of resistance in a wild species and uses those characteristics to develop peanuts with a genetic resistance.
According to several research studies, chemical strays such as pesticides lead to cancer, Alzheimer's Disease, ADHD, and even birth defects.
One of the main benefits of creating peanuts with a genetic resistance is to help farmers prevent the usage of chemical spray on these crops.
Source: Red and Black