NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
August 26, 1999
Researchers at North Dakota State University are beginning work on projects funded by two National Science Foundation (NSF) grants. One project is a joint effort with Montana State University through NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The second is a national effort teaming plant scientists from across the country. In total, NDSU's share of the grant money exceeds $725,000.
The goals of both research projects are discovery and education. But as an outgrowth, the researchers hope applications will be forthcoming that can provide solutions to real-world agronomic problems such as plant disease or herbicide resistance.
"If you don't have the basic research under way, you don't have knowledge to apply to problems," says Phil McClean, a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at NDSU.
A Virtual Education Center
McClean is one of the principal investigators in the NSF-EPSCoR project, which has three objectives. The first is to improve NDSU's research infrastructure through the addition of an automated DNA sequencer and DNA microarray equipment.
"These are absolutely the most modern tools being used in plant genome research," McClean stresses. "NDSU is the first university in the region to get this equipment."
An automated DNA sequencer can read the code (sequence) of genes important for crop productivity and thus allow researchers to make comparisons and selections among genes. Similarly, microarray equipment allows researchers to study how genes confer plant traits--but this equipment allows researchers to study many genes simultaneously. Working with McClean in this phase of the project are NDSU plant scientists Shahryar Kianian and Jim Lorenzen.
The project's second objective is to create a resource on the Internet for students. Serving as a repository of information on all aspects of plant genetics, the site also will contain source materials for many of the plant genetics courses taught at NDSU and Montana State University. Even though the site will be designed with student needs in mind, it will be accessible by anyone with an interest in plant genomics, says McClean, who will direct the Web development efforts at NDSU for this project.
Another component of the Internet site will be a location where students can interact with international experts in plant genomics. McClean says, "We want to make this Web site internationally accessible because the more people we can bring to the site, the more beneficial it will be for NDSU and MSU students."
The third objective of the research involves continuing the development of an educational tool called the Virtual Cell, which is an Internet-based, interactive game. Students from around the world can log onto the Internet and play this game at the same time. McClean, Brian Slator, an associate professor in NDSU's computer sciences department, and Alan White, the chair of NDSU's botany/biology department, are collaborators on this component.
While the Virtual Cell may represent a futuristic look at higher education, McClean says conventional teaching methods remain as practical as ever. He stresses, "We are not just sending our students off on their own into cyberspace. This program is instructor guided and fits within the context of existing classes."
Studying Gene Function, Potential for Manipulation
Technological advancements are providing unprecedented opportunities for discovering the function of genes and the potential for their manipulation. The second NSF project involves 14 researchers from universities and government agencies stretching from New York to California and from North Dakota to Texas. NDSU's representative on this team is Shahryar Kianian, who specializes in wheat germ plasm enhancement.
The principle objective of this project is to sequence and map 10,000 wheat genes to each of the 21 chromosomes. Kianian's role is to locate genes and determine the function of those genes, as it relates to plant fertility.
"It is fortuitous that both NSF grants came in at the same time," says Kianian, who will use the DNA sequencer and the microarray equipment to study the genes in wheat and durum. "Our goal is to make NDSU one of this nation's centers of excellence for plant genomics, and these grants move us along that road."
As with the other NSF-funded research effort, Kianian says the gene mapping project has a major educational component as well. He says graduate students from NDSU and elsewhere will be taught by experts in their fields and be exposed to a diversity of experimental techniques due to the number of researchers collaborating on this undertaking.
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Sources: Phillip McClean (701) 231-8443
Shahryar Kianian (701) 231-7574
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136