Presented by Dr. Peggy Ozias-Akins, professor, Department of Horticulture, The University of Georgia Tifton Campus.

Apomixis, asexual reproduction through seeds that harnesses apomeiosis and parthenogenesis to yield clonal progeny, is a genetically controlled trait found in wild relatives of come crop species, but rarely in crops themselves. Clonal reproduction through seeds in crops would enable the development of self-reproducing hybrids, impacting the production of hybrid cultivars and expanding access to hybrids in the developing world. Identifying genetic components for apomeiosis and parthenogenesis that could be used to install apomixis in sexually reproducing crops has benefitted from the study of female reproduction in natural apomicts and mutants of sexual plants. Our research on apomicts in the genus Pennisetum has yielded the discovery of a gene that induces parthenogenesis in sexual pearl millet and could have utility for both apomixis and haploid induction.

All Biochemistry/Redox Biology Center Seminars are free and open to the public.