High throughput screening of fatty acid composition

Abstract

A method for the high throughput screening of fatty acid characteristics in seeds is provided. The method comprises feeding seeds individually to a sampling station; removing a sample from the seed in the sampling station; conveying the sample to a compartment in a sample tray; converting extracted oil from the sample in the sample tray to form a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters; and analyzing the mixture of fatty acid methyl esters from the sample to determine the fatty acid profile of the corresponding seed.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 711,755, filed Aug. 26, 2005, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to systems and methods for the high throughput screening and identification of fatty acid composition signatures in biological materials such as seeds. [0003] Oil seeds are valuable crops with many nutritional and industrial uses due to their unique chemical composition. Accordingly, seed breeders are continually trying to develop varieties of oil seeds to maximize oil seed yield and / or production. As such, grain handlers and seed breeders must be able to distinguish an oil seed from a regular seed to make important decisions in a grain handling situation or in a seed breeding operation. Such decisions have traditionally been based on statistical sampling of a population of seeds because determining the fat...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is about systems and methods for screening seeds to determine their fatty acid characteristics. The invention allows for high-throughput and automation, which permits greater sampling than was previously practical. The high-throughput, automated and non-destructive sampling permitted by the invention allows for the screening and testing of every seed in a population, and the seeds that do not express the desired fatty acid characteristics can be culled. The systems and methods are ideally suited for rapid assays that require less than about 10 minutes total analysis time, and they are fully transportable. The invention greatly speed up the process of evaluating a population of seeds, making immediate planting decisions in the field or in breeding programs. The method involves sequentially feeding a seed to a sampling station, holding the seed in a sampling station, scraping a sample from the seed being held in the sampling station, conveying the sample to an individual compartment in a sample tray, extracting oil from the sample in the sample tray, transesterifying extracted oil from the sample in the sample tray to form a mixture of fatty acid esters, and analyzing the mixture of fatty acid esters from the sample to determine the fatty acid profile of the corresponding seed. The invention also provides a method of high throughput screening of oil seeds by providing tissue samples from a plurality of oil seeds in individual compartments of a sample tray, contacting each tissue sample with toluene to produce a mixture comprising fatty acid methyl esters, analyzing the mixture of fatty acid methyl esters from each sample to determine the fatty acid profile of the corresponding oil seeds, and selecting seeds having at least one desired fatty acid characteristic. The invention also provides a method of bulking up a quantity of seed having a desired fatty acid characteristic by removing a sample from each seed in a population without affecting the germination viability of the seeds, contacting each sample with a solvent to form a mixture comprising fatty acid methyl esters, analyzing the mixture of fatty acid methyl esters from each sample to determine the fatty acid profile of the corresponding seed, and selecting seeds having at least one desired fatty acid characteristic. The invention allows for the rapid assays and makes immediate planting decisions in the field or in breeding programs.

Problems solved by technology

Such decisions have traditionally been based on statistical sampling of a population of seeds because determining the fatty acid characteristics of a population of seeds has been laborious and time consuming.

However, statistical sampling necessarily allows some seeds without the desirable trait to remain in the population, and also can inadvertently exclude some seeds from the desired population.

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