Future Advancements in Plant-Genome Research

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently announced that it awarded an additional 32 new research grants to plant-genome research, totaling no less than $101.6 million. This year was the 12th of the Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP), and the federal agency awarded research money ranging from $500,000 to more than $10 million to research groups seeking to decipher the mysteries of plants' genomes. Further knowledge in this field could lead to the creation of better plants, as well as to preventing the onset of food crises in the future, the NSF reports.

The funds were awarded for time-frames of two to five years, and they primarily deal with the creation of tools and research support able to lead to a better understanding of the function and structure of plant genomes. Crop plants such as corn, cotton, rice, soybean, tomato and wheat already feed a huge portion of the world's population, and keeping them able to produce large amounts of produce is essential to ensuring our survival as a race. Some 53 institutions in 30 states received the fund money, including international research groups in Europe, Asia, Africa and Central/South America.

The former NSF Assistant Director for Biological Sciences, James P. Collins, said, “Clearly, we are now beginning to see the breadth of the effects of NSF investments in plant genomics. The knowledge gained in these projects will serve as the basic foundation that will ultimately enable plant biologists and breeders to develop crop plants that are higher yielding and better able to adapt to a changing environment.”

Some of the research institutions that received NSF funding include the Bowie State University, the Brigham Young University, the Central Michigan University, the College of Wooster, the Hamline University, the Miami University, the Montclair State University, the New College of Florida, the HudsonAlpha Institute, the University of Buffalo, and the University of Maryland in College Park. The PGRP was established in 1998, and is a part of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Interagency Working Group on Plant Genomes-coordinated National Plant Genome Initiative.

The initiative is supported, among others, by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Department of Energy (DOW), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NSF, the US Agency for International Development, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of Management and Budget.