Diversity Arrays Technology,1 Wilf Crane Crescent,Yarralumla, ACT 2600,AustraliaMini-biographyAndrzej Kilian is the Director of Diversity Arrays Technology Pty Ltd, the company he founded in 2001 to deliver one of his inventions: DNA analysis technology called DArT. During 20 years career in academia and research organisations of Europe, USA and Australia, he made many significant contributions to plant genetics, especially in the area of functional and comparative genomics and telomerase biology in humans and plants. He presented over 150 seminars and conference contributions including plenary talks at many international meetings. He authored over 60 peer-reviewed papers and a number of patents. Andrzej is increasingly involved in providing advice on genetic technologies and crop improvement to a range of public and commercial organisations. Since 2006 he is a Member of Editorial Board of Theoretical and Applied Genetics. In 2004 Andrzej was selected as one of the 10 best Australian scientists in The Bulletin/Microsoft plebiscite.
Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) for whole-genome profiling supported breedingAndrzej Kilian
Diversity Arrays Technology Pty Ltd, 1 Wilf Crane Crescent, Yarralumla ACT 2600, Australia
a.kilian@diversityarrays.comMolecular markers offer a powerful tool to accelerate and refine the process of genetic improvement of crops. Existing marker (genotyping) technologies have been applied successfully to agricultural species, but their cost remains prohibitive for most applications. This is particularly true for species for which no molecular data and limited resources are available. I will describe the development of Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT), a novel method to discover and score genetic markers at a fraction of the cost of other technologies. DArT is a sequence-independent, high-throughput method, able to discover hundreds of markers in a single experiment. DArT markers are typed in parallel, using high-throughput platforms. DArT markers are mostly based on Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, but detect also Insertion/Deletion and methylation polymorphisms. I will explain how DArT fingerprints can be deployed most efficiently to accelerate plant breeding and genetic studies. While we have developed DArT successfully for rice, barley, wheat, cassava, sorghum, sugarcane, tomato, and many other crops, the presentation will use primarily examples from legume crops (chickpea, pigeonpea, and lupins). Substantial emphasis will be on DArT’s capability to facilitate utilisation of genetic diversity of wild relatives for improvement of crops. The presentation will describe the development of the software tools which facilitate effective deployment of DArT genome profiles in breeding. Finally, I will present the many existing frameworks of technology development and delivery.
