Scientists decode barley genome for 'better beer and whisky'

Mapping of the Barley genome by an international consortium of scientists will help to produce new and better barley varieties that are vital for the beer and whisky industries.

Researchers led by Professor Robbie Waugh of Scotland's James Hutton Institute mapped the genome of barley, a key ingredient in beer.

Barley is the second most important crop in UK agriculture and malting barley underpins brewing and pub industries worth some 20 billion pounds to the UK economy.

The breakthrough should also help in the fight against cereal crop diseases that cause millions of pounds of losses annually.

Barley is the world's fourth most important cereal crop both in terms of area of cultivation and in quantity of grain produced.

The barley genome is almost twice the size of that of humans and determining the sequence of its DNA has presented a major challenge.

By developing and applying a series of innovative strategies that allowed them to circumvent these difficulties, the International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium (IBSC), managed to construct a high resolution draft DNA sequence assembly that contains the majority of barley genes in linear order.

The research provides a detailed overview of the functional portions of the barley genome, revealing the order and structure of most of its 32,000 genes and a detailed analysis of where and when genes are switched on in different tissues and at different stages of development.

They describe the location of dynamic regions of the genome that, for example, contain genes conferring resistance to diseases.

This will provide a far better understanding of the crop's immune system.

"Access to the assembled catalogue of gene sequences will streamline efforts to improve barley production through breeding for varieties better able to withstand pests and disease and deal with adverse environmental conditions such as drought and heat stress," Waugh said.

The research is published in the journal 'Nature'.