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Karyology and Genomics of Jatropha: Current Status and Future Prospects

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Jatropha, Challenges for a New Energy Crop

Abstract

Global warming, population, environmental degradation and food production are serious concerns to the well being of mankind. Development of sustainable energy resources is an essential component to many of these problems. Bioenergy holds great promise to contribute significantly to reduce petroleum consumption and emission of green house gases. Biodiesel derived from the oil of Jatropha curcas seed is emerging as an alternative to fossil fuel, since it has the desirable physiochemical characteristics and performance even superior to conventional petroleum diesel. In addition, the plant is able to grow on marginal lands, which eliminates the “food versus fuel” dilemma. However, large scale cultivation of J. curcas remains the single most important issue that will ultimately decide of its success. Despite the availability of a vast germplasm with wide variability, not much progress has been made in developing varieties or hybrids for higher oil yield, better agricultural and economic features. Additional information about the karyology, genetic diversity and genomics is necessary to generate mapping populations, marker assisted selection and to develop superior genotypes. In this review, we discuss the state of the art of genetic improvement research for J. curcas.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. P.K Ghosh, Director of the CSMCRI (CSIR, Bhavnagar, Gujarat), for allowing the access to the facilities of the institute, the colleagues for their help in executing some parts of the work included in this review and Prof K. Becker from Department of Aquaculture Systems and Animal Nutrition (University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany) for providing the samples of Mexican non-toxic and other exotic samples. N. Carels is grateful to CAPES/Fiocruz/CDTS for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Desert Agriculture, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Muppala P. Reddy

  2. School of Biotechnology, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalya (A Central University) Koni, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, 495 009, India

    Pamidimarri D. V. N. Sudheer

  3. Discipline of Wasteland Research, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR), Bhavnagar, Gujarat, 364 002, India

    Shaik. G. Mastan & Hifzur Rahman

  4. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Nicolas Carels

  5. Department of Botany, Kakatiya University, Warangal, 506 009, India

    Bir Bahadur

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  1. Muppala P. Reddy
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  2. Pamidimarri D. V. N. Sudheer
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  3. Shaik. G. Mastan
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Correspondence to Muppala P. Reddy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Warangal, Warangal, India

    Bir Bahadur

  2. Crop Improvement Section, Principal Scientist, Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad, 500 030, India

    Mulpuri Sujatha

  3. , Dept. of Functional Genomics and Biology, Fiocruz/IOC, Av.Brasil 4365, Manguinhos, 21040-360, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Nicolas Carels

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Reddy, M.P., Sudheer, P.D.V.N., Mastan, S.G., Rahman, H., Carels, N., Bahadur, B. (2013). Karyology and Genomics of Jatropha: Current Status and Future Prospects. In: Bahadur, B., Sujatha, M., Carels, N. (eds) Jatropha, Challenges for a New Energy Crop. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4915-7_15

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