Getting the Genes out of the Bottle
Posted: March 3, 2008
The announcement last week that scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have completed a working draft of the corn genome holds tremendous potential to meet society’s growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.
The accomplishment, which was announced at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference, is the result of a $30 million project initiated in 2005 and funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of Washington University’s Genome Sequencing Center, says this is the first comprehensive glimpse at the blueprint for the corn plant. “Scientists now will be able to accurately and efficiently probe the corn genome to find ways to improve breeding and subsequently increase crop yields and resistance to drought and disease,” he said.
The draft covers about 95 percent of the corn genome, and scientists will spend the remaining year of the grant refining and finalizing the sequence. “Although it’s still missing a few bits, the draft genome sequence is empowering,” Wilson explains. “Virtually all the information is there, and while we may make some small modifications to the genetic sequence, we don’t expect major changes.”
According to plant biologist Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., chair of Washington University’s Department of Biology, “The genome will help unravel the basic biology of corn. That information can be used to look for genes that make corn more nutritious or more efficient for ethanol production, for example.”
The team working on the endeavor included scientists from Iowa State University, among them corn geneticist Dr. Patrick Schnable who has been working on corn genetics exclusively for well over 20 years. Brownfield Network’s Peter Shinn did an interview with Dr. Schnable you can read and listen to here.
This is an exciting development that opens up a whole new world of possibilities for feeding and fueling the world.