Read the
magazine
story to find out more. |
Studies by ARS
researchers Yong Gu (left) and John Vogel on the wild grass Brachypodium
are revealing genetic information that may be helpful to their switchgrass and
biofuels research. Click the image for more information about
it. |
|
A Little Grass Called Brachypodium Will Be
a Big Help in Biofuels Research
By
Marcia Wood September 15, 2008
A short little grass known as purple false brome may speed discoveries
about switchgrass, its famous cousin and energy-crop hopeful.
Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) scientists like
John
Vogel and
Yong
Gu at the agency's
Western
Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., are probing the genetic makeup
of purple false brome, or Brachypodium distachyon, as a faster way to
learn more about the genes inside switchgrass.
Brachypodium (pronounced BRACKY-poe-dee-umm) accelerates
energy-crop research because its genome, or genetic material, is significantly
smaller than that of switchgrass, according to Vogel. The smaller genome means
Brachypodium's genome can be studied in depth in a shorter amount of
time than it would take to scrutinize the switchgrass genome.
The two grass species are so closely related that scientists expect
findings about the Brachypodium genome to apply to switchgrass' larger
one.
Vogel, a plant molecular biologist, along with research geneticist Gu
and research leader
Olin
Anderson--all with the
Genomics
and Gene Discovery Research Unit at the Albany center--are the first to
report the successful shuttling of new genes into Brachypodium via a
bacterium widely used for this purpose in other plants. Known as
"transformation," the process provides a reliable way to help uncover the
function of plant genes.
In addition, Gu and colleagues have developed what's known as a
"physical map" for Brachypodium--the first-ever for this plant. The map,
assembled in collaboration with Ming-Cheng Luo at the
University of California-Davis,
and others, depicts the location of neighboring stretches of
Brachypodium genes and other genetic material. Knowing where genes are
located is a critical part of understanding Brachypodium's genetic
makeup.
Read more
about the research in the September 2008 issue of Agricultural Research
magazine.
ARS is a scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of
Agriculture.