Writer: Blair Fannin, (979) 845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu
Contact: Jeff Chen, (979) 845-3773, zjchen@tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION – A team of researchers studying the expression of parental genes in plants could lead to improved production of cash crops such as cotton and corn.
Jeff Chen, an assistant professor of molecular genetics at Texas A&M University, along with five other scientists, recently were awarded a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the expression of parental genes in plant polyploids (where more than one parental genome is present). They will be studying what, if any, impact parental gene expression contributes to the success of important polyploid crops such as canola, cotton, corn, potatoes and wheat.
“One hypothesis is that some genes are expressed, others aren’t, so it’s a matter of how organisms use these mechanisms to express some genes, but not others,” Chen said. “It’s a question of, ‘Can we induce expression of parental genes so that we may have a better crop?”
The research team includes Chen, as well as fellow researchers Thomas C. Osborn, University of Wisconsin (the institution leading the research); James A. Birchler, University of Missouri; Luca Comai, University of Washington; Robert A. Martienssen, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; and Rebecca Doerge, Purdue University.
The research will involve extensive study of plant DNA. Scientists can spot 10,000 or more genes on tiny glass slides in an area as small as a quarter. Through these experiments, scientists can view many different genes at one time, hoping to discover why the genes from two parents are not equally expressed in a polyploid or hybrid plant.
“You can look at the expression of thousands of genes in one experiment,” Chen said. “We can also do experiments with progenitor genomes together in other words we can look at the expression of the genes from both parents to see what is the contribution of the parents to the gene expressed in hybrid and polyploid genomes.”
Chen said there are many benefits by conducting this type of research and its impact on the future of crop farming because important crops are polyploid or hybrid in nature.
“The long-term goal is to find molecule mechanisms that control gene expression in polyploid plants so we can use that information to improve production of polyploid crops, such as wheat and cotton,” he said.
Another component of the research is studying hybrid vigor.
“The hybrid plants usually have better performance than the parent or both of them combined,” Chen said. “Why is the hybrid better than the parents? Research from this consortium will provide some insights.”
Other aspects of the five-year grant include training of graduate students and post doctoral researchers interested in plant molecular biology, genomics and bioinformatics. Chen said more than a dozen post-doctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students will be involved with the research.
“Together, results from this research will show why hybrids and polyploids have been so successful in nature and agriculture,” Chen said. “In the future, we may develop the tools to improve production of important crops, many of them are polyploid.”
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