Barley – Methods and Protocols
Barley is the world’s fourth most important cereal, both in terms of area and production, as well as one of the world’s first domesticated crops. In addition to being an important crop for both food and feed, it is also a valuable diploid model cereal. Barley has extensive genetic resources, continually advancing genomic resources and a range of efficient biotechnological tools.In this volume we start with review chapters that introduce barley as both crop and model and consider the history and importance of mutation breeding in the development of the crop. Protocol chapters then cover practical techniques such as crossing barley, a range of tissue culture methods, the preparation of barley tissues for different forms of microscopy and the assessment of sensitivity to abiotic stresses. Efficient protocols are provided for transformation, TILLING, virus-induced gene silencing and genome editing. There is also particular emphasis on a range of protocols for genotyping and for the analysis of gene expression.This book should be a valuable reference volume for cereal researchers and breeders providing detailed protocols covering important traditional skills such as crossing and tissue culture through to the latest technologies for genotyping, expression analysis and genome editing.