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120 Researchers Use Database to Unlock Corn's Genetic Code
Naharnet.com ^ | 18 Mar 05, 16:33 | staff

Posted on 03/26/2005 10:02:29 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

click here to read article


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1 posted on 03/26/2005 10:02:29 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: farmfriend

fyi


2 posted on 03/26/2005 10:03:22 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

3 posted on 03/26/2005 10:05:04 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

What exactly bugs liberals about bio-tech grains & veggies? They go off on conservatives for opposing "science!" when the topic is stem-cell research, then turn around and oppose science when the topic becomes bio-tech food.


4 posted on 03/26/2005 10:10:01 AM PST by ghost of nixon
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To: All
Better copy of what may be the original article:

(Includes a correction on the number of sequences....)

**********************************************

Trade Group Says Effort to Unlock Corn's Genetic Code Has Gained 'Critical Momentum'

03-14-2005 7:28 PM
By JIM SUHR, AP Business Writer

ST. LOUIS --  A trade group overseeing a partnership to unlock corn's genetic code said Monday the effort has gained "critical momentum," with more than 120 researchers already having accessed a searchable Web database created last year to hasten development of biotech crops.

The 8-month-old Web site pools research done on the corn genome by Monsanto Co., DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. and Monsanto research partner Ceres Inc.

By offering up their data to researchers at nonprofit institutions for noncommercial use, the companies hope to develop hybrid and genetically modified plants that are more drought-resistant or can produce more nutritious corn or fibers.

The goal: Sequence the corn genome by 2007, perhaps several years ahead of when it otherwise would be completed without the initiative.

On Monday, the St. Louis-based National Corn Growers Association _ overseeing the partnership _ said the effort to map the maize genome "is gaining critical momentum," with researchers from 35 academic sites having accessed the database.

Jo Messing, director of the Waksman Institute and professor of molecular biology at Rutgers University said the database has roughly 1.8 million available sequence reads _ more than four times what was previously available publicly.

"There are only little pieces of gene sequences available in the public domain, and in the past it's been very difficult to find completed gene sequences. The private collection offers a lot of those missing pieces," Messing said.

Land-grant universities including the University of Illinois, Oregon State University, Kansas State University and the University of Minnesota have accessed the site, as have overseas institutions such as Oxford University, the Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, the Danish Institute of Agriculture Sciences and Germany's University of Hamburg.

Last week, St. Louis-based Monsanto said it has teamed with a biotechnology company and the U.S. government in a bid to unlock the genetic code of soybeans, hoping to supply breeders with technology that makes the crop more resistant to disease and drought.

As part of that deal, Monsanto, Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research arm seek to map DNA markers in soybeans, creating a detailed molecular genetic map. That information then will be freely available to U.S. soybean breeders and geneticists on federal databases and in scientific journals.

As part of the corn-genome partnership, donated data resides on a Web site developed and managed by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a nonprofit research site near Monsanto's headquarters.

Scientists looking to see the database have to register through the corn growers association, certifying that they are conducting noncommercial work and agreeing to provide license options for Monsanto, Pioneer and Ceres.

The companies will benefit from completion of the genome sequence at no additional cost, given that government agencies and academic institutions are footing the researchers' bills.

Researchers eventually will publish their findings in scientific journals, after the companies preview the work and consider options for non-exclusive licensing deals.

___

On the Net:

National Corn Growers Association, http://www.ncga.com

Corn-sequencing Web site, http://www.maizeseq.org


5 posted on 03/26/2005 10:13:50 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Here China. You're welcome.


6 posted on 03/26/2005 10:13:50 AM PST by DoughtyOne (US socialist liberalism would be dead without the help of politicians who claim to be conservative.)
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To: ghost of nixon

"Frankenfood."

They're probably pissed that more people will be fed, and thus less people will die. Deathocrats.


7 posted on 03/26/2005 10:14:11 AM PST by Terpfen (New Democrat Party motto: les enfant terribles)
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To: DoughtyOne; ShadowAce; Golden Eagle; Carry_Okie; Boot Hill; blam; RadioAstronomer; Grampa Dave; ...
But it is our invention....research...we have control...unlike Linux....some would say....

I think this has some interesting analogies with software....

8 posted on 03/26/2005 10:16:47 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Shoot, Henny Youngman unlocked corn's genetic code years ago...


9 posted on 03/26/2005 10:27:56 AM PST by LRS
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; abbi_normal_2; Ace2U; adam_az; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; alphadog; ...
The National Corn Growers Association

These are the people I was in DC with.


Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

10 posted on 03/26/2005 10:33:51 AM PST by farmfriend ( Why oh why didn't I take the blue pill?!?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

At least now corn will never be able to sneak attack us.


11 posted on 03/26/2005 10:38:33 AM PST by aynrandfreak (If 9/11 didn't change you, you're a bad human being)
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To: farmfriend

BTTT!!!!!!


12 posted on 03/26/2005 11:00:53 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I'm glad you fixed the number of sequences! Otherwise, the article was saying that there were only 0.45 sequences available--and I know for a fact I found more corn sequences than that yesterday at Genbank, without even looking for them.


13 posted on 03/26/2005 11:15:03 AM PST by exDemMom (Euthanasia, NO WAY. Youth in Asia, OF COURSE.)
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To: exDemMom
corn sequences

Sounds like you might know something about all of this????

14 posted on 03/26/2005 11:21:18 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: ghost of nixon
I have no idea. It is not as if these foods are exactly untouched by man in the first place.

Cabbage and cauliflower and bok-choy are all descended from the same wild plant.

Wild potatoes are poisonous.

Corn is completely a man-made plant. It doesn't even exist in the wild.

We have been tampering with plants since we first started cultivating them.

15 posted on 03/26/2005 11:29:15 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!? Oh right, that would be me. Back to work.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
I do.

If I wanted, I could even be one of those eeeeevil people developing genetically modified organisms. I prefer working with mammalian systems, however, and save my genetic engineering skills for use in trying to dissect human cell function.

16 posted on 03/26/2005 11:38:10 AM PST by exDemMom (Euthanasia, NO WAY. Youth in Asia, OF COURSE.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I wish they could develop corn that I am not allergic to. Corn is in absolutely EVERYTHING today.


17 posted on 03/26/2005 11:41:55 AM PST by Ditter
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Thanks for the ping. :-)


18 posted on 03/26/2005 2:01:32 PM PST by RadioAstronomer
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To: Terpfen
"They're probably pissed that more people will be fed, and thus less people will die. Deathocrats."

You make a great point, but it will probably fall on deaf ears. I'm not trying to butter you up; your sarcasm really has a grain of truth.

19 posted on 03/26/2005 2:11:10 PM PST by Joe 6-pack
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
LOL .... quick-scrolling by the thread title I thought it said Unicorn's Genetic code...
20 posted on 03/26/2005 3:01:10 PM PST by mikrofon (A-maizeing stuff)
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