New Technique Could Silence Soybean Fungus
11 November 2008 Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has discovered a gene-silencing technique that enables plants to naturally resist soybean rust fungus, Phakopsora pachyrhizi, reports the Delta Farm Press. The P. pachyrhizi fungus causes substantial losses to soybeans worldwide.
Scientists identify a gene’s function by disabling that gene in plants or other organisms, challenging the organism in some way — such as with exposure to a pathogen — and observing the consequences that result from having that gene disabled. In studies by molecular biologist Kerry Pedley, at the ARS Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit at Fort Detrick, Md., the gene-silenced plants will be inoculated with spores of P. pachyrhizi, and monitored for a breakdown in resistance. Pedley has received the agency’s T.W. Edminster Award, named for a former ARS administrator, plus $120,000 to fund a postdoctoral associate position for two years.
Pedley’s research goal is to streamline the development of new soybean cultivars that can withstand P. pachyrhizi. Pedley is collaborating with Iowa State University scientists, and this award will expand upon those efforts.
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