Davis, California
December 2, 2008
 The U.S. Department of Agriculture
is conferring one of its highest research awards this week upon
UC Davis rice geneticist
Pamela Ronald (photo) and two other scientists, in recognition of their
work on developing new rice varieties that can withstand
flooding.
The Discovery Award, which recognizes outstanding researchers
who address key agricultural problems of national, regional and
multistate importance, will be presented Dec. 5 at UC Riverside
by Gale A. Buchannan, the USDA's undersecretary for research,
education and economics. The award will be given to Ronald;
UC Riverside genetics professor
Julia Bailey-Serres; and David J. Mackill, a researcher formerly
of UC Davis and now at the
International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.
Ronald's group isolated the rice genomic region that carries the
submergence tolerance trait and demonstrated that one of the 13
genes in the region, called Sub1a, confers submergence
tolerance. Mackill's team used this information to precisely
transfer Sub1a into popular high-yielding rice varieties of
countries in South and Southeast Asia.
"The Sub1 project provides an excellent example of a productive
research collaboration between a breeder and two molecular
geneticists," Ronald said. "Each of the groups brought distinct
expertise to the project.
"Dave Mackill led the breeding work and Julia Bailey-Serres, who
joined the project in 2002, is leading the work to understand
how regulation of the ERF genes control the plant's complex
response to submergence stress," she said.
The new rice varieties recently passed field tests in Bangladesh
and India, and will be made available within two years to
smallholder farmers in flood-prone areas whose crop yields are
often destroyed by seasonal rains.
"In Bangladesh and India, four million tons of rice are lost to
flooding every year, which is enough rice to feed 30 million
people for one year," Ronald said.
The USDA funding of the Rice Sub1 Project began in the mid-1990s
with two grants to Ronald and Mackill totaling nearly $490,000.
Subsequently, three other USDA grants were awarded to
Bailey-Serres and Ronald, bringing the total of USDA funding to
the research team to nearly $1.45 million.
This will be the second time in a row that USDA's Discovery
Award is presented to a UC Davis scientist. The 2007 Discovery
Award went to plant sciences professor Jorge Dubcovsky, in
recognition of his genetics research focused on enhancing the
nutritional value of wheat.
For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and
public service that matter to California and transform the
world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000
students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a
comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers.
The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more
than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges -- Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering,
and Letters and Science -- and advanced degrees from five
professional schools: Education, Law, Management, Medicine, and
Veterinary Medicine. The UC Davis School of Medicine and UC
Davis Medical Center are located on the Sacramento campus near
downtown.
USDA
honors California researchers for work in developing
flood-tolerant rice
Washington, DC
December 5, 2008
USDA
Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and
Economics Gale Buchanan today presented the National Research
Initiative (NRI) Discovery Award to Julia Bailey-Serres at the
University of California-Riverside, Pam Ronald at the University
of California-Davis and Dave Mackill at the International Rice
Research Institute. The team received the honor for their
genetics research on flood-tolerant rice.
"This research will have a tremendous impact on the development
of other crops resistant to flooding, potentially alleviating
crop loss and protecting environmental resources," Buchanan
said. "Since rice is a staple food for more than 3 billion
people globally, this project may also help farmers in
developing countries."
Approximately one-fourth of the global rice crop is grown in
low-lying fields prone to seasonal floods. Rice is the only
cereal crop that can withstand submergence; however, most rice
varieties will die if fully submerged more than four days,
costing producers an estimated $1 billion in annual crop losses.
The trio identified a gene that enables rice to survive complete
submergence. The discovery allows for development of a new rice
variety that can withstand flooding.
The NRI Discovery Award highlights exceptional scientific and
economic impacts of NRI-funded projects and recognizes
outstanding researchers in agriculture who have supported the
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
(CSREES) mission. The award includes a $10,000 supplement and a
one-year extension of the project. The NRI, the largest peer
reviewed competitive grants program in CSREES, supports
research, extension and education grants that address key
problems of national, regional and multi-state importance in all
components of agriculture.
Serres is a professor in the department of botany and plant
sciences at UC-Riverside. She is a fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and director
of the Center for Plant Cell Biology's ChemGen Integrative
Graduate Education and Research Trainee program at UC-Riverside.
Ronald is a professor of plant pathology and chair of the plant
genomics program at UC-Davis. She also serves as director of
grass genetics at the Joint Bioenergy Research Institute in
Emeryville, Calif. She is a fellow of AAAS, a 2006 fellow at the
Davis Humanities Institute and a 2008 fellow of the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science.
Mackill is a senior scientist of plant breeding, genetics and
biotechnology at the International Rice Research Institute in
the Philippines. He is a fellow of the Crop Science Society of
America; secretary-general of Society for the Advancement of
Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania (SABRAO) and a member of
AAAS.
Through federal funding and leadership for research, education
and extension programs, CSREES focuses on investing in science
and solving critical issues impacting people's daily lives and
the nation's future. For more information, visit
www.csrees.usda.gov. |
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