10/1/99

Contacts:
Patrick Schnable, Agronomy, (515) 294-0975
Brian Meyer, Agriculture Information, (515) 294-0706

ISU RECEIVES $2.9 MILLION GRANT FOR CORN GENOME RESEARCH

AMES -- The National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $3 million to Iowa State University for research to better understand the inner workings of the corn plant.

The $2,947,000 grant will fund research over three years. Patrick Schnable, professor of agronomy, will lead a project team that includes scientists who specialize in molecular biology, plant breeding, genomics and bioinformatics.

With the funding, the team will develop new, highly efficient genetic mapping tools. The tools will be used to molecularly dissect the corn genome at a rate of thousands of genes at a time. Besides improving the collection and analysis of genomic information, they will improve researchers' understanding of the molecular nature of complex genetic traits such as yield and hybrid vigor.

"With a greater understanding of the organization and function of the corn genome, U.S. agriculture will be successful in meeting the growing needs for corn as food, feed and as sources of industrial raw materials," said Schnable.

Other ISU members of the team are Xun Gu, agronomy/zoology and genetics; Daniel Ashlock, mathematics; Michael Lee, agronomy; Kendall Lamkey, USDA/agronomy; and Gavin Naylor, zoology and genetics. Another team member is Gary Churchill of the Jackson Laboratory, a non-profit, independent research institution in Bar Harbor, Maine.

"The grant is an outstanding achievement by this group of researchers. The new Plant Sciences Institute will build on the strengths of these and other plant scientists at Iowa State," said Colin Scanes, interim director of the Plant Sciences Institute, an effort by ISU to build a world-class plant sciences research program.

The ISU project was one of 15 plant biology research grants awarded by the National Science Foundation. Total funding for the 15 projects was $62 million.

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