DNA fingerprinting of diverse USask haskap cultivars

Haskap fruit is becoming increasingly popular in Canada and Europe. The berries are considered as a rich source of health-promoting compounds. The project aims to identify haskap cultivars using existing and developing new molecular markers. This type of markers is based on DNA differences between haskap varieties. Firstly, broad research on the existing literature will be conducted to understand the state of art and which methods/molecular markers were already tested. The next step will be to develop new markers and to test them, together with what is already available, on the Canadian germplasm. This last part will be repeated until a complete set of markers will be able to be used. The research results can be applied directly to University of Saskatchewan (USask) haskap breeding program to help and speed up variety selection. Haskap growers and nurseries not only from Canada but also from other countries can used these results to precisely identify their cultivars and guarantee proper use and multiplication of them, as well as facilitating the share of genetic material and international projects. This project will also strength the collaboration between USask and Wageningen University and Research, two leading university in the agricultural field.

Faculty Supervisor:

Anze Svara

Student:

Partner:

Wageningen University and Research Centre

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program: