Scientists from around the world have worked together to map the potato DNA. The news clears the front page of the journal Nature. As the only Danes, researchers from Aalborg University contributed to the work that opens new efficient ways to solve future food shortages.

The results of the researchers' work is published in the most important scientific journal Nature.I 2050, the world will be able to produce twice as much food on the same agricultural area as today, if not millions of people will die of hunger. Therefore, we need to refine the largest food groups in a way that the yield is much greater and the agricultural area is optimized. Around the world, scientists therefore to map the plant DNA structures in order to develop new types of crops that are stronger, disease-resistant and provides greater yields. Now, a large international consortium after several years of work now present the whole potato genome, ie the mapping of all the genes in the world's third most important food. Aalborg University is the only Danish partner in the extensive network, which published its results in the most important scientific journal Nature. - We expect that it will be able to accelerate crop development enormously, so you can get more efficient crops, which are also more environmentally friendly and resistant to disease, says Associate Professor Kåre Lehmann from Aalborg University's Department of Chemistry & Biotechnology. He and graduate student Mads Sønderkær been responsible for an important part of the research project, which among others also includes partners such as Michigan State University, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Beijing Genomics Institute and Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Previously, scientists have mapped the human genome and, for example, certain grasses, including maize and rice, but it is the first time the construction of an important food that does not belong grass species have been mapped. - The potato is very interesting to breed because it is very space efficient. One can say that in potato production will have many calories per. hectares, and it is of great importance when in the future be produced more food for an overpopulated planet, explains Kåre Lehmann. Aalborg scientists' responsibility in the project was to conduct and analyze sequencings of active genes. It provides an overview of where in the plant's DNA genes are located, but it is complicated by the protein-coding genes represent only a few percent of the DNA in higher animals and plants. This is in turn the most important information of charting. By sequencing and analyzing more than 750 million bits of DNA from active genes it has been possible to identify the areas that contain active genes. The total potato genome contains no less than 844 million letters (nucleotides). In comparison, there are three billion in the human genome. On the other hand holds the potato around 39,000 genes to human only about 23,000. And the new knowledge about genes opens many doors, says Kåre Lehmann: - When you can produce an entire genome, as we can with the potato, then accelerates to all other researchers' work. Others need not spend months or years to examine individual areas of gene structure, and they can quickly learn about the building blocks of a potato consists of. A third thing is that the potato course is a crop that can continuously refines through genetic variation and by selecting the best plants. Here, you can save both time and huge sums of money to make the selection on the seeds instead of having to grow the plants. The new mapping can probably cut 10-15 years of the development process, when you have to develop a new variety, estimates Kåre Lehmann. These findings, published in the journal Nature, is freely available for all to use them in research and industry. The Obel Family Foundation has just granted AAU three million kroner for new DNA sekventeringsudstyr, which among other things will be used for crop development in potatoes. More information: • Associate Professor Kåre Lehmann Nielsen, Department of Chemistry & Biotechnology, AAU, tel. 99 40 85 27, mobile 27 87 98 30 kln@bio.aau.dk See all the scientific article online at Nature here Source: AAU