The development of Nordic Seeds molecular laboratory

11/08/2015

Molecular biology has in recent years become a major part of plant breeding

To keep up with the development, Nordic Sedd has since 2011 continually expanded our marker laboratory.

In the marker laboratory are performed a variety of studies and analyzes. One of the most important is the use of genetic markers, we find a relation between the lines genetic code (DNA) and their properties. Once we have found the genetic code, which is linked to resistance to fungal diseases, we can quickly check breeders material for their resistance. In this way, we can discover a number of the plant's characteristics without sowing, measuring and assessment.

In a short time, the need to perform several thousand analyzes has grown and most recently, we have expanded with a pipetting robot. The robot must pipet small amounts of DNA and prepare PCR reactions, so that we can examine DNA markers in thousands of lines.

Another important feature of the marker laboratory are test for purity of varieties. This can be done using, marker techniques such as microsatellite markers (SSR) or with protein electrophoresis which clarifies a profile of the proteins present. When we perform protein electrophoresis, we examine a number of grains, and the protein profile will reveal whether the grains are all the same variety, or whether there are dissenters.