Cleopatra probably wore linen and the Irish have long used it to make cherished family heirlooms, but in Canada, flax has been limited to oil production.
The ability to sequence the flax genome may widen this crop’s uses for food, fibre and oil.
The $12 million total utilization flax genetics project, led by University of Alberta scientists in collaboration with the French and Chinese, opens opportunities for plant breeders, said project researcher Mike Deyholos of the U of A.
Flax production declined and minimal research took place as petroleum products largely replaced linseed oil following the Second World War.
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“Flax is really a neglected crop since the end of the war,” Deyholos said.
Unravelling the genome helps breeders develop new varieties with improved agronomy or make flax more competitive with canola.
“This was an opportunity to work with a crop that was a Canadian crop where there was a clear need to accelerate breeding and other opportunities,” Deyholos said.
Canada is a world leader in flax production and exports, but the crop is harvested for its oil and the straw is often seen as a nuisance product.
“It has got such a reputation for being hard to grow and having some of these disadvantages, it is kind of the last thing a producer might put in and the last thing they might take out,” he said.
“Some of its reputation isn’t all that deserved.”
Canadian growers cannot make linen from flax straw because the growing season is too short and the fall is too cold.
European farmers decompose the straw in the field, which makes the fibres easier to remove.
New varieties may change that.
Flax oil is valued as a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids and lignan, a molecule linked to cardiovascular health.
The nutraceutical and industrial sectors may use it for products such as varnishes and a fibreglass replacement.
Flax has a small genome compared to other crops, which makes it easier to work with.
Researchers have been trying to fund the project since 2003.
Genome Alberta, Genome Prairie, Genome Canada and the National Institute of Agricultural Research in France granted the money in 2008, but only a portion of it was used for the sequencing project, which took six weeks.
DNA analysis also allows scientists to combine genetic information with archeological evidence to discover flax’s past uses for cloth and oil.
“There is a little bit of genetic evidence that says maybe people started using it first for its oil, but we think once we start looking at these genes more, we might be able to contribute to that debate,” Deyholos said.
Time line
3,000 BC: Flax is cultivated in Babylon. Burial chambers depict flax cultivation and clothing from flax fibres.
650 BC: Hippocrates writes about using flax for the relief of abdominal pains. In the same era, Theophrastus recommends the use of flax mucilage as a cough remedy.
1st century AD: Tacitus praises the virtues of flax.
8th century AD: Charlemagne considered flax so important for the health of his subjects that he passed laws and regulations requiring its consumption.
15th century AD: Hildegard von Bingen used flax meal in hot compresses for the treatment of both external and internal ailments
(Source: Flax Council of Canada and North Dakota State University)
