College Station, Texas
September 20, 2004
A technology that uses "gene
chips," which can help analyze tens of thousands of different
DNA elements in a cotton plant, could lead to cotton varieties
with superior traits and improved fiber quality.
Dr. Jeff Chen, a Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station scientist, is working on a
$5.7 million National Science
Foundation project led by Thomas Osborn at the
University of Wisconsin, and a
project funded by the National
Institutes of Health on translating gene expression
mechanisms using plants as a model system.
Chen's work involves DNA microarrays or "gene chips." In his
laboratory, by spotting DNA elements directly onto 1X3-inch
glass slides, one chip can potentially contain all annotated
genes (approximately 30,000) of an animal or plant genome.
"DNA microarrays have broad applications in studying changes in
gene expression and genomic structure in many biological
contexts, including genetics, physiology, development and
environment," Chen said. "With the help of computational and
statistical tools, these changes can be incorporated into
understanding of biological networks that regulate plant growth
and production traits."
The technology "provides a high-throughput tool for practical
applications," Chen said. Those include a wide variety from
medical diagnostics to plant breeding programs.
The work was initially funded by Cotton Incorporated and the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Collaborators include
Barbara Triplett, a fiber biologist with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service in New Orleans, and
the Texas A&M University staff of David Stelly, a molecular
cytogeneticist, Peggy Thaxton, a cotton breeder, and Sing-Hoi
Sze, a computer scientist.
They recently received a five-year award of $2.5 million from
the National Science Foundation Plant Genome Research Program
for their ongoing studies of physiological and genetic effects
on early stages of cotton fiber development.
Chen's team is collaborating with Jonathan Wendel, project
leader of the National Science Foundation-funded Cotton
Evolution Genome Project at Iowa State University. The two
research groups will collectively develop a high-quality DNA
microarray resource that is open and accessible to the cotton
community.
The microarrays will eventually include all favorable genes from
cotton researchers so they can be used in cotton breeding and
field applications.
"This project represents a clear example where Cotton
Incorporated and state-funded research initiatives have had a
‘multiplier-effect' on garnering substantial federal funding for
cotton research," Chen said. "In the current era of genome
biology, plant researchers are working together in groups to
share expertise necessary to generate large amounts of genomic
resources for the entire research community and to the cotton
industry.
"Genomic resources generated in rice, corn and wheat have
produced tremendous impacts on the plant research community and
plant production agriculture. Cotton researchers are
establishing new information and technologies that will enhance
cotton's share of competitive federal research support for
genomic research."
Chen said he would like to expand genome biotechnology education
outside the university setting.
"We would like to build an outreach program where middle school
teachers can bring their classes to our laboratories so they can
learn about genome biotechnology," he said. "It would give
students an opportunity for a hands-on look at how to extract
DNA from plants and amplify DNA in test tubes. They would be
exposed to how science and technology programming involves not
only agriculture, but biotechnology and engineering as well." |