Two new grants totaling nearly $10 million have been awarded to UC Davis researchers by the National Science Foundation to fund studies on the wheat and rice genomes -- the full collection of genes for these plants.

These three-year grants are part of the National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Program.

"We are delighted but not surprised at the success of these researchers," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "Plant genetics has long been one of the research strengths of UC Davis. Our faculty are continually pushing to broaden the understanding of plants in ways that will strengthen the agricultural enterprise and enable us to better meet the very practical food and fiber needs of people around the world."

One of the grants provides $5.6 million for research aimed at identifying and locating 1,800 genetic markers called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in wheat. These are variant forms of particular genes that occur when just a single nucleotide (A, T, C or
G) in the genome sequence is altered.

Identification of the SNPs will help wheat breeders better select high-yielding wheat varieties that are resistant to pests and disease, and tolerant of environmental stresses.

Lead researcher for this project is Jan Dvorak, a UC Davis agronomy professor, whose research focuses on the evolution of plant genomes and chromosomes. For the past three years he has been coordinating a group of researchers from throughout the country who are working on mapping the wheat genome.

The second grant awards $4.3 million for research directed at constructing rice microarrays -- also called "chips" -- for public use. The researchers will design short pieces of DNA that correspond to every one of the predicted unique 45,000 genes and put them on a single microscope slide.

The rice chip could then be used in experiments to obtain a snapshot of whether each of these genes is in a particular condition. For example, researchers know what genes are turned on when the rice plant is subjected to a particular stress, such as disease, drought or cold.

The project also will include development of a database online, a data-analysis system and training that will enable scientists all over the world to make use of the microarrays for analyzing any rice trait.

Because rice, with its relatively small genome, is a model system for other grasses and cereals, the rice chips will be useful to researchers studying other economically important crops such as corn and wheat.

The lead researcher for the rice project is Pamela Ronald, a UC Davis professor of plant pathology. Ronald is a molecular biologist and an authority on rice genetics. In 1995 she isolated the first disease-resistance gene from rice and used it to genetically engineer rice with resistance to bacterial blight, a serious disease of rice in Africa and Asia.

The National Science Foundation began in 1998 making annual grant awards through its Plant Genome Research Program. The long-term goal of the program is to understand the structure, organization and function of plant genomes that are important to agriculture, the environment, energy and health.

Since the program began, UC Davis scientists have been the lead researchers on eight grants totaling $45.8 million and co-researchers on grants totaling $21.4 million. These research projects have involved a variety of crops including cotton, rice, tomato, wheat, barley, maize (corn), lettuce and sorghum, as well as the model research plants arabidopsis and medicago.