NCGA
Sees Great Potential in $35 Million NSF Grant for Plant Genome Program
(8-11-05)
Diligent work by the National Corn Growers Association
(NCGA) and its affiliated state corn grower associations to ensure
continued funding for the Plant Genome Initiative reaped even greater
rewards last week when the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced
a $35 million grant from the U.S. government.
Of particular interest to corn growers is the plant
genome initiative because it means our project work with the maize
genome sequencing will be completed sooner,” said Pam Johnson,
an Iowa corn grower on NCGA’s Research and Business Development
Action Team. “This is important to growers. (Additional funding)
allows us to get more information about the maize genome project
into the public domain.”
Of particular interest to corn growers is a portion
of the grant that provides funding for “Translational Research
from Model Systems.” Currently, NSF is researching the traits
of Arabidopsis thaliana, a member of the mustard family that provides
scientists with basic research about molecular biology and genetics.
Biotech Working Group team leader Nathan Danielson says the grant
will allow NSF to move information from that project to corn and
other crops.
“In the plant world, Arabidopsis is the best
research model. It’s the equivalent of the mouse-research
model of the medical world,” said Danielson. “What’s
nice about Arabidopsis is that, if you are able to do that type
of research and translate it to corn, you’re going to be much
better off. Arabidopsis is a very valuable experimental plant.”
An important part of NSF’s research is identifying
traits of crops. NCGA hopes the $35 million grant will help classify
these traits, which can then be used in corn to produce a more efficient
and durable seed.
“The translational research will not only
help with things like Arabidopsis research and other plants,”
Danielson said. “It will allow us to move traits in one economical
plant and reproduce them in another. This research is producing
the crops of the future.”
“We have the potential to gets more traits
into our corn fields,” Johnson said. “It has several
benefits. We can tailor corn for markets, such as better starch
for ethanol, feed use and bio-based chemicals.”