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Director Rubin on corngrass1 for biofuel

Up to now, the fast-growing switchgrass, because of its tough lignin, an organic polymer, has required heavy chemical treatment before it can be turned to ethanol as biofuel. Chuck’s gene transfer experiments have shown that because the improved switchgrass keeps the plants young, the lignin content of their cells is minimal and would need no… [Read More]

Mycosphaerella genome project in Capital Press

Septoria typically infects young seedlings that have recently emerged, creating lesions, and spreading to the higher leaves. It can affect yield and quality, Goodwin said. Control methods are typically fungicide sprays, he noted. Igor Grigoriev, of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif., has been sequencing the genomes of other… [Read More]

Mycosphaerella genome project in Agricultural Research

The pathogen that causes the disease, Mycosphaerella graminicola, has a long “silent period,” a latent stage during which it takes nutrition from the living plant and evades the host plant’s natural defenses. Scientists previously did not have a good understanding of how the organism infects wheat, or how the wheat plant itself resists the pathogen…. [Read More]

Mycosphaerella genome project in Farmers Guardian

SCIENTISTS have cracked the genetic code of septoria tritici – the most important foliar disease of wheat in the UK – and in doing so have gained an insight into how the disease is able to evade wheat’s natural defences. The researchers, who were funded by the BBSRC and others, hope the study, which reveals… [Read More]

First Finished Filamentous Fungus

An international consortium of scientists, including scientists from DOE JGI, have published the analysis for Mycosphaerella graminicola, the first filamentous fungus to be fully finished. Having the 39.7 million nucleotide genome available will enable researchers to learn more about the methods plant pathogens use to attack and damage crops, including those being considered for use… [Read More]

Poplar rust genome project on Wisconsin Ag Connection

The sequencing of the genetic codes of wheat stem rust pathogen (Puccinia graminis) and poplar leaf rust pathogen (Melampsora larici-populina) is expected to help researchers develop control strategies to address worldwide threats to wheat fields and tree plantations. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was a six-year collaborative effort… [Read More]

Maize genomics at DOE JGI User Meeting in Genome Technology

Speaking at the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute’s sixth annual User Meeting, held in Walnut Creek, Calif., in March, Buckler said that while they may not have realized it at the time, maize breeders in Thailand, Mexico, and elsewhere have, since the turn of the 20th century, captured a great deal more genomic diversity… [Read More]

Brachy genome project on Federal Times

Federal researchers have been hard at work trying to develop alternate sources of clean renewable energy, and yesterday they announced a major breakthrough in their efforts. Scientists from the Agriculture Department and the Energy Department’s Joint Genome Institute for the first time have sequenced the genes of a wild grass species. The research, which is… [Read More]

Brachypodium genome project on Farm Futures

USDA scientists and their colleagues at the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute say they have completed sequencing the genome of a kind of wild grass that will enable researchers to shed light on the genetics behind hardier varieties of wheat and improved varieties of biofuel crops. The grass, Brachypodium distachyon, can be used by… [Read More]

Brachypodium genome on ScienceDaily

Representative genomes for two of the three major subfamilies of grasses ⎯ those that include rice, maize, sorghum and sugar cane⎯ have already been sequenced. Now in the February 11 edition of the journal Nature, the International Brachypodium Initiative, a consortium which includes researchers from the DOE Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), presents the complete… [Read More]