Genetic Background
In most areas where giant reed grows (Mediterranean area and US), viable seeds are not produced and it is a positive trait for an energy crop, because the photosynthetic products will be channeled into lignocellulosic biomass and not seed production. On the other hand, sterility is an obstacle for breeding programs which aim to increase the productivity and biomass quality for energy conversion. Asexual reproduction drastically reduces genetic variability. It is reported that sterility of giant reed is as a result of a failure of the megaspore mother cell to divide. A total of 185 clones of A. donax were collected from California to South Carolina and genetically fingerprinted with the SRAP and TE based markers. Giant reed exhibited no molecular genetic variation despite the wide genomic coverage of the markers used in this study. The molecular data strongly point to a single genetic clone of A. donax in the United States, although multiple introductions of this plant into the United States have been documented. Another study was conducted in the Mediterranean area on sampling giant reed from 80 different sites, and a low gene diversity was detected. Results indicate the occurrence of post-meiotic alterations in the ovule and pollen developmental pathway. AFLP data support a monophyletic origin of giant reed and suggest that it originated in Asia and began to spread into the Mediterranean Basin.
Read more about this topic: Arundo Donax
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