TILLING in Plant Disease Control: Applications and Perspectives

A TILLING-mutagenized population can, however, be used as both an efficient forward and reverse genetics tool for the identification of disease resistance-related genes. Chemical mutagenesis causes both point mutations and small deletions, which are irreversible and produced in relative high densities, and also chromosome breaks that cause various chromosome rearrangements, which can reduce fertility and affect lethality. DHPLC was one of the first methods described for mutation detection in TILLING. NGS has helped to bypass some challenges presented in the conventional TILLING strategies such as the individual pooling deeper than eight individuals. Bioinformatics tools are used in the TILLING strategy from the initial step, when the amplicon is determined, all the way through to the final step, when the analysis of obtained alleles is performed in terms of their impact on protein function. All technologies adopted in the TILLING process for mutation screening can be applied in EcoTILLING.