2001 Annual Report

1. What major problem or issue is being resolved and how are you resolving it?
The major problem being solved is how to sustain and improve agricultural output in the face of continued population growth. Agricultural biotechnology that is focussed on increasing crop yield per acre of cultivated land will become increasingly important to sustain the food supply over time. Our goal is to identify and analyze the genes that control plant architecture, in order to ultimately manipulate them to aid in the improvement of agriculturally important traits such as robustness, fruit size and yield.

2. How serious is the problem? Why does it matter?
Feeding the growing human population without compromising quality of life is a worldwide problem. Most of the best agricultural land on the planet is already being utilized, and land still awaiting cultivation has the potential to be only marginally productive, limiting further agricultural gains. The result is that population growth is outpacing that of viable cropland, leading to an increasing imbalance in the world s food supply. Developing biotechnological means of improving crop yield will impact both domestic farmers who will be able to harvest and export more crops with less effort and expense, and also overseas populations who currently or in the future will have inadequate food supplies.

3. How does it relate to the national Program(s) and National Program Component(s) to which it has been assigned?
NP 301 Plant, Microbial & Insect Genetic Resources, Genomics, and Genetic Improvement (40%), National Program 302Improving Plant Biological Molecular Processes (60%). Genetic traits are identified, and the seeds isolated to conserve and develop the germplasm. Seeds carrying the desirable traits are hen evaluated in genetic, molecular and biochemical experiments aimed at improving plant biological processes through the analysis of gene function

4. What was your most significant accomplishment this past year?
A. The goal of the research was to clone the Arabidopsis ULTRAPETALA (ULT) gene as a first step toward understanding the molecular basis of ULT function in plant development. The ULT cloning was performed at the USDA Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, CA. The ULT gene has been cloned, and shown to encode a small cysteine-rich protein that is similar to proteins found in many crop plant species. Because mutations in ULT cause increased flower and fruit production in Arabidopsis plants,our analysis of the function of ULT and of ULT-like genes in other species may enable us to better control these traits in crops. B. None C. None D. None

5. Describe your major accomplishments over the life of the project, including their predicted or actual impact?
This work builds on an earlier CRIS 5335-21000-013-00D Functional Analysis of Plant Genomes. Work from the earlier CRIS involved isolation of the ult mutants and the characterization of the Arabidopsis CLAVATA3 (CLV3) gene, which like ULT also functions to control plant structure and growth. I am performing research to understand the genetic control of plant architecture ein Arabidopsis thaliana and to develop, test, and apply strategies for manipulating shoot and flower structure in model plant species and in crops such as maize and rice.

6. What do you expect to accomplish, year by year, over the next 3 years?
I expect to identify other novel genetic mutants (in addition to ULT) that affect plant development and begin to analyze their characteristics. I plan to continue research on the CLAVATA signaling pathway, establishing the CLV3 protein localization pattern and determining whether CLV3 acts as a secreted signaling molecule. I also intend to use functional genomics methods to identify other CLV1-like and CLV3-like genes in Arabidopsis thaliana and maize, and to determine their expression patterns and chromosomal map positions as a prelude to functional analysis.

7. What technologies have been transferred and to whom? When is the technology likely to become available to the end user (industry, farmer other scientist)? What are the constraints, if known, to the adoption durability of the technology?
None.

8. List your most important publications and presentations, and articles written about your work (up to three total --NOTE: this does not replace your review publications which are listed below)
None.

Project Team

Fletcher, Jennifer

Project Annual Reports

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