NSF awards two plant genome grants to University of...( orically based their diets on a combina...)

orically based their diets on a combination of legumes and grain. In Middle America it was beans and corn, in the Far East soybeans and rice and in Africa cowpeas and sorghum." Legumes such as peanuts and soybeans are valuable sources of oil, and legumes also contain unique "phytochemicals" like isoflavones, which seem to promote heart health. Some of the same heart-healthy compounds are also used by the plant in communicating with its symbiotic bacteria, VandenBosch said.

The barrel medic was chosen as a model legume because its genome is smaller and simpler than that of alfalfa or soybeans. The researchers will build a library of the plant's genes and study when they are turned on during the course of development and in which plant tissues. Researchers at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere are sequencing the genome, which they hope will become the third plant genome to be fully sequenced. The others were a mustard relative called Arabidopsis, followed by rice.

The barrel medic is cultivated in Mediterranean countries and Australia. It can grow in alkaline soils, dry soils and other marginal areas. By studying plants whose particular genetic makeup allows them to survive in extreme environments, the researchers hope to gain insight into how the plants deal with infection, pollutants and other stressors. Young and university colleague Ernest Retzel, an investigator on both new grants, are already studying soybean genomics. The overall goal is to translate genomic advances in the barrel medic and soybean projects to less well studied but economically important crops.

Retzel, a bioinformaticist, will direct analysis of the data generated by both projects. The data will be made available to researchers and the public.

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Contact: Deane Morrison
morri029@umn.edu
612-624-2346
University of Minnesota
9-Nov-2001

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