The National Science Foundation has granted $4.93 million to researchers at the University of Arizona, New College of Florida, Central Michigan University and the University of Utah. Using maize as a model, the five year project will allow scientists to explore the gene networks that control endosperm development and function during the critical first eight to ten days after pollination. As part of the grant, New College of Florida Associate Professor of Biology Amy Clore will receive just under $375,000 to fund her research.
Professor Brian Larkins of the University of Arizona is the principal investigator on the project, while Professor Clore of New College, Professor Gary Drews of the University of Utah, Professor Joanne Dannenhoffer of Central Michigan University and Professor Ramin Yadegari of the University of Arizona are all listed as co-principal investigators. The project is entitled “Regulation of Early Endosperm Development in Maize.”
In describing the NSF-funded project, Clore explained, “The endosperm is the nutritive tissue of the kernel in maize. It provides the germinating seedling with amino acids and sugars and is mainly what you are eating when you eat corn on the cob. Our research may ultimately lead to the ability to optimize the amount and quality of the tissue produced during the early stages of endosperm development.”
Clore noted that the starchy endosperm in cereal grains supplies more than 50 percent of the calories in the human diet worldwide and serves as raw material for many industrial products. Yet not much is known about the very early stages of the endosperm’s development, when critical genetic events can influence yield, nutritional value, milling properties and other traits that affect its economic value.
In order to enable Clore to conduct her research funded by the NSF grant, New College built a new greenhouse this past summer using College funds. Located west of the Heiser Natural Science Complex, the new greenhouse is 20 feet by 40 feet and augments an older facility, built in the 1990s, that lacked sufficient space for students and faculty to conduct classes, lab work and research effectively. Besides offering more space, the new greenhouse also has an evaporative cooling system, automated drip and overhead irrigation and supplemental lighting.
A key goal of the NSF grant is to strengthen student research and training at all of the participating institutions. Toward that goal, New College student researchers along with those from Central Michigan University will spend summers in laboratories at the University of Arizona and the University of Utah and will be able to continue their research at their home institutions with their advisors.
“Students will help grow and pollinate the corn, harvest it at early stages, perform ultra-structural studies (e.g., staining and microscopy) and eventually help to determine which genes are most important for getting the process of endosperm formation underway,” Clore stated. The research also will involve large scale gene expression analysis, known as genomics, and bioinformatics methods involving the use of computers to analyze genes and gene expression, partly using existing databases.
Two New College students, Alyssa Sonchaiwanich and Sarah O’Connor, are already scheduled to work at the University of Arizona this summer as part of the NSF-funded project.
“This grant is great because our students and I will have access to very new types of DNA sequencing and cutting edge technology relating to gene expression and microscopy at the University of Arizona and the University of Utah that are unavailable at New College,” Clore stated. “Nevertheless, because New College has some advanced scientific equipment of its own, we also will be able to continue some aspects of the research right here.”
As part of the NSF grant, results of the project will be disseminated immediately for laboratory and classroom use throughout the world. Ongoing scientific and educational outcomes also will be made available online. Basic and applied research will proceed simultaneously during the project, with contributions in developmental biology, cereal crops and ultimately, tangible results that can be translated in the field expected from the project’s findings.
For more information on Dr. Amy Clore and her NSF-funded research, contact the New College Office of Public Affairs at (941) 487-4150 or email [email protected].