This mission of this project is to employ evolutionary and computational genomic approaches to identify key genetic variants that have enabled T. arvense to locally adapt and colonize all temperate regions of the world.
With its simple diploid genome, ease of floral dip transformation, and the considerable genetic and genomic resources we have developed (large collection of genome-sequenced wild pennycress populations from around the world, sequence indexed mutant populations, draft genome, etc.), along with our team’s expertise and capabilities in advanced molecular, multi-omics, modeling, explainable- artificial intelligence, and high-throughput phenotyping methods and tools, we expect to make rapid and meaningful progress. Many of the outputs of the proposed work - from crop prediction & metabolic models to new omics datasets and field-validated adaptive loci - will be translatable to improving other oilseed bioenergy crops and food crops including camelina, carinata, rapeseed, and canola.