The Iowa Soybean Research Center’s Industry Advisory Council met in September for its annual meeting to consider proposed soybean research ideas and to offer guidance on how to best invest more than $400,000 in available new funding. Based on the council’s recommendations, the ISRC funded three new soybean research projects led by Iowa State University researchers, described below.
New Projects
A two-component resistance system against the soybean cyst nematode
Professor Thomas Baum, plant pathology, entomology and microbiology, will build on his laboratory’s recent advances to develop gene constructs to make soybeans defend against the soybean cyst nematode (SCN). This approach relies on specific DNA “switches” that can turn on the production of a protective protein only where the nematodes feed on soybean roots. As an additional safeguard, this project explores mechanisms to ensure that the protective protein remains inactive in other parts of the plant, preventing unintended effects. This project will generate gene constructs that will be tested in soybean plants to create targeted resistance to SCN.
Genetic mapping of waterhemp to combat herbicide resistance and weed competition with soybean
Assistant Professor Wesley Everman, agronomy, will investigate what makes waterhemp such a successful and troublesome weed for soybean farmers. Previous research mostly looked at how weeds develop resistance to specific weedkillers after it happens. Everman's team is taking a step back to map the weed's genetics to figure out what specific traits make waterhemp so competitive and aggressive in the first place. By discovering the genes that give weeds an unfair advantage, this research will help farmers and industry develop smarter, long-term ways to manage stubborn weeds.
Source : iastate.edu