Columbia, Missouri
December 30, 2008
Soybean farmers soon will be one
step closer to better drought-tolerant soybean varieties.
University of Missouri
researchers will construct a comprehensive database of all
proteins and metabolites in soybeans. Once compiled, the
database will allow researchers to study changes in proteins and
metabolites in soybeans grown under drought and other stressed
conditions. When combined with data from the recently released
soybean genome, scientists will have a very powerful set of
tools that will help breeders engineer better-performing soybean
plants. The research project will be funded by a new three-year,
$1.1 million grant awarded by the
United Soybean Board
(USB).
“Using the analogy of a car, the genome represents a ‘parts
list’ and the proteins and metabolites represent the ‘parts’
themselves,” said plant scientist Henry Nguyen, lead
investigator on the USB project and director of the National
Center for Soybean Biotechnology at MU. “When the genome is
complete, we will have the ‘parts list’. Now, we need to know
how many of each part is needed, where they are located and how
they contribute to the overall performance of the ‘car’.”
To assemble the parts, Nguyen and two of his fellow
investigators in the MU Interdisciplinary Plant Group, Gary
Stacey and Dong Xu, are combining their expertise in plant
physiology, molecular genetics and computational biology to
create a comprehensive database of all proteins and metabolites
found in the soybean seed, leaf and roots. Once completed, the
database will be available to the entire soybean community.
In addition, they will study how proteins and metabolites change
in these tissues in response to drought and different pathogen
attacks.
“Plants turn certain proteins and metabolites on or off or up or
down in response to environmental cues,” said Nguyen, who also
is an investigator in the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences
Center. “For example, a soybean plant grown under drought
conditions will send out a deeper root or increase root
branching. These changes in the physical attributes of the plant
arise from changes in proteins and metabolites.”
Nguyen and his colleagues said that the database will be used to
create computerized soybean models that can predict changes in
the physiology and biology of the plant under changing
environmental conditions. Such models can then be used to
engineer better performing varieties.
The USB is a farmer-led organization composed of 62
farmer-directors. The USB oversees the investments of the
soybean check off on behalf of all U.S. soybean farmers.
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