Improving Crop Plants Through Genomics

摘要

In 1968, genomics breakthroughs at ARS's U.S. Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory (PSNL) in Ithaca, New York, earned the U.S. Department of Agriculture its only Nobel Prize to date. Biochemist Robert Holley received the award for being part of the team that first determined the structure and nucleotide sequence of transfer RNA. Today, PSNL scientists are building on Holley's legacy, applying genomics and related sciences such as proteomics and molecular genetics to improve the nutritional value ofleading crops. The ARS researchers, whose labs are located on Cornell University's main campus, are also out to boost crop plants' resistance to disease and their tolerance to soils lacking nutrients or containing toxic amounts of metals. And two PSNL scientists are now part of major efforts to map and sequence the genomes of tomato and maize.