Transcript Purdue-Industry interactions in Plant Breeding /Genetics

Purdue-Industry interactions in Plant Breeding/Genetics
Herb Ohm, Dept of Agronomy
With input from faculty: plant breeding/genetics
Faculty: Plant Genetics/Breeding Research
All Purdue faculty contribute to instruction and/or extension
Anderson, Joe – USDA: molecular virology, wht genet
Ejeta, Gebisa: Sorghum Breeding/Genetics
Jackson, Scott: SB Genetics/Genomics
LeRoy, Allen: SB Breeding/Genetics
Nielsen, Niels – USDA: SB molec biol – seed qual, flavor
Ohm, Herb: Wheat, Oat Breeding/Genetics
Scofield, Steve – USDA: Plt molec biol/path – signaling
Szymanski, Dan: Genet – growth/envtl response in plt cells
Vermerris, Wilfred: Maize, Sorghum Genet,Cell wall biosyn
Weil, Cliff: Maize Genet/Genomics – value-added traits
Education/training
BS, MS, PhD
Graduates: industry, universities, int’l
Cost for graduate student (1/2 – time assistantship):
assistantship+fee remission+overhead+thesis research
≈ $50,000/year (competitive funding)
($100,000 – 150,000/student-degree)
Project support personnel (tech, postdoc, RA)
most are supported on competitive funding (res grants)
Research
Varieties, gp – Small grains, Sorghum, Soybean
Mrkrs, Map’g, MAS: SB, Sorghum, Wht, Oat
Genetics
Corn, SB, Sorghum, Wht
model crops (Arab, M trunc), Rice
Across crops: >’g emphasis in basic genetics
Federal competitive fund’g (USDA, NSF, DOE, USAID)
Minimize duplic’n, but collaborate with industry
Fed. formula funds will < and/or change (competitive)
US Taxpayer: accountability
Faculty salaries: Indiana and US (Hatch) taxpayers
accountability
So what have/are we accomplishing/contributing/doing?
Interactions with seed industry?
Purdue Soybean Breeding Program
• Ongoing Program to Develop High Yielding Proprietary
Varieties with Improved Disease Resistance for the Licensed
Genetics Market and the Non GMO Specialty Grains Market
• Use of Advanced Breeding Methods Have Shorten Variety
Development Time
• Crossing and Selection Since 2000
•Since 2004 Indiana Seed Companies have been able to
evaluate in their own systems the best lines from the Purdue
Breeding program. Ten companies in 2005.
Defensive Trait Objectives
 Phytophthora Rps1k +3a Resistance
+ CystX SCN Resistance
+ Rps8 Phytophthora Resistance
+ SDS Resistance
Two New High Yielding Varieties Released
for Foundation Seed Production in 2005
Purdue -> Ag Alumni -> IN Seedsmen
Soybean Variety Development
Allen LeRoy
Program funding: ISB, Purdue
USB-funded projects in Jackson Lab
1. Development of physical map for
sequencing of soybean genome.
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To enable gene cloning and marker
development for breeding.
Soybean genomics NSF (2005).
2. Molecular cytogenetic analysis of soybean
genome to elucidate genome structure.
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To enable gene cloning and genetic
manipulation by focusing on seed related loci.
Ohm: Wheat and Oat Breeding/genetics
Wheat: Indiana, Eastern US, Mid-south
34 cultivars
- earliness: doublecropping
- cold tolerance: Patterson, Goldfield
- 1st YDR from wheatgrass – INW0315, INW0316
- FHBR (INW0304, INW0411, INW0412)
Low incidence
1st to pyramid res from 201R, Gfd, Chinese (MAS)
- HFR 1st to pyramid res genes (MAS) INW0301, INW0303
26 gp lines plus lines in reg’l nurseries: parents for others
Oats: Indiana, upper midwest, Ontario, NE
- YD tol/res; CrR; Milling qualities, β-glucan (Quaker)
Ohm: Wheat & Oat Breeding/Genetics
-FHB (var, mrkrs-mapp’g) USWBSI
-Wht var (BCg, MAS) USDA-CSREES
-NRI CAP (transl genomics - Snb)
-Wht Qual, dis res, white wht, USDA
Hamaker, slow digesting wheat starch
-Wht Breeding, AgAl Seeds/Purdue ARP
-Oat Gen/Brdg (BYDV, CR), Quaker
’70s – ’80s: PVI, Purdue, Quaker, Pio, Misc.
Purdue Sorghum Research
Current Research Projects in support of the US Seed
Industry
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Grain & Forage Quality and Bio-fuel
Brown mid-rib, low lignin mutations, sweet sorghums
High Digestible grains
B-carotene and other micronutrients
Drought Tolerance
pre- and post-flowering drought tolerance
stay-green trait & associations
identification & validation of QTL
Cold Tolerance
Development of lab techniques
Identification and validation of QTL
Marker Assisted Introgression
Disease Resistance
Leaf rust, anthracnose, and grain mold
Sources of resistance from cultivated and wild sorghums
Purdue Sorghum Research
Non-research activities in support of the seed
industry
• Germplasm Conservation and Enhancement
– Introduce, characterize, enhance, and conserve
• Assessment of Gene Flow Among Sorghums
– Pollen mediated gene flow/risk assessment
• Catalyze Seed Industry Development in Africa
– Part of a regional effort to develop a functional seed
program.
• Training of Plant Breeders
Purdue Sorghum Research
Inbred Lines Released to the US Seed Industry
• 40 Food Grain Seed Parents
• 14 Drought Tolerant Pollinators
• 7 Grain Mold Resistant Seed Parents
• 6 Stay Green (Drought tolerant) Inbreds
• 2 Early Maturity Drought Tolerant Inbreds
• 1 Forage Quality Inbred Seed Parent
Wilfred Vermerris
•Modifying lignin composition to enhance ethanol production
– Funded by Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research, Inc. and
Dow AgroSciences
– Defining cell wall properties that improve the yield of fermentable sugars
from maize stover
– Breeding of maize inbred lines with enhanced bio-processing
characteristics
•Identification and characterization of cell wall mutants by Fourier
transform and near infrared spectroscopies
– Funded by NSF Plant Genome Program
– Identification of maize mutants with altered cell wall properties based on a
high-throughput spectroscopic screen
– Approxmately 50 novel mutants have been identified. No apparent visual
phenotype, but altered spectral features.
Cliff Weil
Agronomy Dept.
Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research
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Targeting Induced Limited Lesions IN Genomes (TILLING) in maize
Making, and then screening large, mutant populations for single base
changes in any specified gene in the genome (NSF-funded)
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The Genetics of Genetics: Genes that control meiotic recombination in
maize (NSF-funded)
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Corn is a model of human immune disease: Repair of DNA hairpins
An unusual DNA structure is formed when the maize transposon Ac moves,
ALSO forms while vertebrate animals make immune receptor genes.
Key factors for repairing these structures, required in humans, are absent
in plants and yeast, yet all these organisms repair DNA hairpins very
effectively. We are studying how this happens. (BARD-funded, NSF and
NIH to be submitted shortly)
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Maize genes that control starch digestibility (joint project with the Whistler
Center for Carbohydrate Research at Purdue) (PRF and ARP-funded)
Dan Szymanski
Understanding how plant cells use actin filament polymerization during growth
In developing cells of the seed and germinating seedling, the polymerization of the actin
cytoskeleton drives organelle biogenesis during cell growth. We are studying actin-dependent
processes in order to manipulate the transport, metabolism, and storage of lipids.
The actin related protein (Arp) 2/3 complex is an evolutionarily conserved group of proteins
that efficiently nucleate new actin filament polymers. The grants below focus on different
functional aspects of the Actin-related protein (Arp) 2/3 complex using the model plant
Arabidopsis.
NSF -Mechanisms of plant cell morphogenesis: ARP2/3 function and trichome distortion in
Arabidopsis
Objective: To determine which organelles are controlled by the Arp2/3 complex during growth.
DOE - The Arabidopsis WAVE Complex: mechanisms of localized actin polymerization and
growth
Objective: To understand how the plant WAVE proteins control the activity of the Arp2/3
complex.
Hughes Graduate Student Fellowship: 2003-2007 Regulation of the lipid content of soybean
Objective: To understand how post-germination phospholipid trafficking in the cotyledon
is regulated
Education/Engagement
BS: internships, work experiences
Graduate degrees:
-need to expand experiences/intns with industry
Research/Engagement
Res will continue to be supported by compet fundg
Expand intns/collab w industry: basic→applied
-strength & stability in broad base support
Hire individuals who have appreciation for:
agric, land-grant mission, tchg/res/engagement