- Home >
- College of Agriculture
- > Supporting Food, Fiber, and Energy Systems
Supporting Food, Fiber, and Energy Systems
Helping Americans and our Neighbors Prosper
Safe, sustainable agricultural systems that are socially, economically, and environmentally responsible are key to enhancing the lives of Tennesseans and supporting a growing global population. We are exploring ways to deliver discoveries using a systems approach to agriculture productivity that will provide customizable solutions for producers.
Animal Research
Characterization of Small-Breed Cattle for Small-Scale Beef Production
TSU Poultry Program
Develop Organoid Culture in Major Livestock Species and Apply to Teaching and Research Projects in Animal Health and Immunogenetics
Plant Research
Use of Remote Sensing and GIS Technologies to Produce Enhanced Monitoring Tools for Forestry Production in the Southern US
Investigate the Utility of High Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery to Provide Stakeholders with a tool for Making Informed Forest Management Decisions
Environmentally Friendly Techniques for Managing Insect Pests in Nursery Crops
Promote the Sustainability of the Green Industry Through Research to Develop Imported Fire Ant Quarantine Treatment Options
Identification of New Nursery Crop Production Practices to Reduce the Use of Synthetic Pesticides
Reduce Soilborne Disease and Improve Production Efficiency in the Nursery Industry Through the Identification, Evaluation, and Communication of Effective Soilborne Disease Management Strategies
Reduce Yield Loss by Screening and Identification of Host Resistance to Bacterial Wilt in Accessions of Muskmelon, Squash, and Pumpkin
Using Biotechnology to Increase Seed Production and Vegetable Oil Yield in Soybean
Increase Soybean Genetic Diversity
Developing Alternative Grain Crops Adapted to the Southeast Using Classical and Molecular Breeding Tools
Provide New Genetic Mapping Technologies in Sweet Sorghum for Biofuel Crop Production Options for Small Farmers in the Southeast US
Develop a Gene Editing System in Tomato to Help Understand the Function of Stress-responsive Genes and to Develop Lines to be used as Novel Genetic Materials
Characterization of Small-Breed Cattle for Small-Scale Beef Production
Dr. Richard Browning
Most beef cow-calf enterprises are small-scale operations with just under 25 head of cattle on average. Economic estimates range from 200 to 500 cows as the inventory needed to have an economically viable beef cattle enterprise. Herds under 50 are the least economically sustainable. Typical of other states in the region, most TN beef cattle operations are small in scale. The average farm size in TN is 65 ha. It would take 243 to 362 ha to run 300 typical commercial beef cows. The average weight of the US beef cow has increased in the last 30 years. Cows tend to become less efficient with increasing mature size. Larger mature cow weights also result in increased carcass weights. Portion sizes for beef within the USDA guidelines are limited with the total daily recommendations for meat and protein alternatives to be 142 to 198 g. Increasing carcass sizes can pose issues with fabrication to produce acceptable whole muscle retail cuts that meet USDA dietary recommendations. A non-traditional animal industry that has emerged among limited-resource, small-scale operators is meat goat production. Advantages include animal carrying capacity per unit of land, ease of management because of small mature size, and high efficiency of female reproductive output. However, many commercial meat goat operations struggle to realize profits because of unstructured marketing and the scarcity of FDA-approved goat pharmaceuticals for effective health management. Initiatives to incentivize new farms among the young, the retired, and veterans will create increased interests to explore and enter livestock production in small-scale systems. It is possible that a smaller breed of beef cattle could contribute to animal production by addressing the issues addressed above. The Dexter is an established, unique breed with small stature. Dexter cattle originated on the British Isles in the early 1800s and were first imported to the US in the early 1900s. The mature weight of Dexter cows is less than 340 kg. The small size would seem to make Dexter cattle suited for the small acreage, part-time farms. More cows could be carried per unit of land with more calves to sell. Smaller cows may be more efficient performers and easier to manage within a well-supported, traditional industry. The aim of the project is to determine if small-breed cattle could provide some advantages to low acreage managers interested in raising grazing livestock in general or beef cattle specifically. Dexter cows will be managed in a low-input grazing system with planned pure breeding and crossbreeding to characterize this breed for cow-calf production values from breeding to weaning. The Dexter management system will run parallel to an established meat goat breeding system to compare efficiencies of female production. With increased interest in grass-finish cattle in the South, Dexter will be crossed with a small heat-tolerant Sanga beef breed (Mashona) to assess benefits gained from crossbreeding. Tall fescue is the predominant southern grass, so heat tolerance would be beneficial in grass finishing systems where heat intolerance because of fescue toxicosis would be a problem. Findings of this project will be shared with both the academic community at professional meetings and current and potential ruminant livestock managers at industry events. If Dexter cattle can improve the scaling problems associated traditional small-scale beef cattle systems, the economic outlook for this major segment of the beef industry and southern agriculture would be enhanced. Grass-finished beef is an emerging niche segment of the beef sector. Dexter cattle may provide a unique contribution to this market because of their small size and likely early maturity.
-back to top-
Efficiency of Feed Utilization in Poultry Through Knowledge and Implementation of Optimum Nutrient Requirements
Dr. Samuel Nahashon
Poultry is widely used as a leaner form of meat and an equitable source of protein all over the world. Meeting demand for poultry and poultry products requires gain in genetic potential complemented with nutritional regimens that maximize growth and improve efficiency of feed utilization. To also ensure profitability and improve feed efficiency in the poultry industry, birds are reared in limited spaces, consequently increasing the potential for rapid spread of diseases among poultry flocks. These practices have necessitated changes in dietary nutrient density and use of antibiotics, excess of which have been implicated in antimicrobial drug resistance. The aim of this research is to enhance growth and efficiency of feed utilization in poultry, especially chickens and guinea fowl. An additional goal is to search for alternative to antibiotics. The optimum requirement for the amino acids arginine, methionine and cysteine by the Pearl grey guinea fowl are lacking. Also, the minimum amounts of nutrients, especially the essential amino acids that sufficiently drive metabolic processes in poultry as a whole are not well established. The requirement of these nutrients for optimum growth performance of poultry will be evaluated. Newly discovered direct-fed microbials or probiotics will be evaluated for potential use as substitute for antibiotics and to improve efficiency of nutrient utilization in chickens and guinea fowl. In completely randomized design, French and Pearl grey guinea fowl and broiler chickens will be assigned to floor pens and subjected to dietary treatments. Dose response experiments with varying dietary concentrations of either amino acids or probiotics will be conducted from hatch to eight weeks of age. The optimum concentrations of arginine, methionine and cysteine, and the effectiveness of direct fed microbials or probiotics will be determined by growth performance, carcass characteristics, and assay of metabolic indices and gene expression of the experimental birds. Findings from this research will be published in the Journal of Poultry Science and optimum levels of these nutrients will be recommended to guinea fowl and traditional poultry producers.
Also see the TSU Poultry Program
-back to top-
Develop organoid culture in major livestock species and apply to teaching and research projects in animal health and immunogenetics
Dr. Yongming Sang
Organoids, also known as "mini-organs", are three-dimensional (3D) constructs that differentiate from stem cells to recapitulate the cellular architecture and functionality of native organs. Multiple types of organoids have been cultured primarily from human and mouse stem cells, which have profoundly revolutionized the research and clinic practice in human medicine. Compared with the traditional 2D cell culture, organoid culture is outstanding per its genetic stability, physiological resemblance and potency in modeling organogenesis and microbe-host interactions; meanwhile, fully addressing the concerns of animal welfare. We hypothesize that the principle and procedures for generating organoid from human and mouse stem cells are generally applicable in livestock species, but predict species-specific optimization and discoveries in livestock species according to their phylogenic difference. Our long-term goal intends to establish organoid cultures for most if not all organs as validated using human and mouse stem cells. However, because the research focus of the PI's projects is relevant primarily to animal respiratory and digestive systems, the lung and intestinal organoids are therefore concentrated in this proposal, and will be realized with the following specific objectives : 1) Optimize the protocols for porcine intestinal and lung organoids culture and apply to promote current research projects in animal immunogenetics and host-pathogen interaction; and 2) Develop organoid cultures in cattle and chickens to establish livestock organoid stocks, and use them collaboratively for new projects
-back to top-
Use of remote sensing and GIS technologies to produce enhanced monitoring tools for forestry production in the Southern US
Dr. Clement Akumu
Row crops (corn, soybean and cotton) provide a source of livelihood to farmers and mapping their spatio-temporal distribution will significantly improve crop inventory and provide useful information in predicting crop yield, soil productivity and drought conditions. Nonetheless, there is limited knowledge on the distribution of row crops especially in Tennessee. This study aims to map and monitor the spatio-temporal distribution of row crops and their respective canopy temperatures. The project will utilize satellite geospatial analytical approaches to map and monitor row crops condition and susceptibility to drought. This information will increase agricultural productivity and management of row crops by farmers.
-back to top-
Investigate the utility of high resolution remote sensing imagery to provide stakeholders with a tool for making informed forest management decisions
Dr. Bharat Pokharel
This program primarily aims to address an important component of forest ecosystems, the forest productivity and its sustainability. A well-balanced forest management system conceivably contributes better livelihoods for local communities and the forest industry, while also contributing sustainable sources for green energy. The anticipated outputs from the project are predictive maps of stand level forest attributes, which not only help to plan a continuous supply of traditional forest products, e.g. timber and pulp, and new bioproducts such as biomass for bioenergy from the forest, but also helps to strategically manage the forest for multi-value forest products in order to generate revenue and protect and restore supporting services in the forests through sustainable forest management practices. It is hypothesized that variables, which capture landscape-level patterns such as data derived from satellite imagery - Landsat, Digital Surface Model (DSM) derived from National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) point clouds, National Land Cover Dataset, and Digital Elevation Models will be useful while generating geo-spatial predictive models for stand level forest attributes across the forest landscape. The outcomes from this project will provide opportunity for stakeholders to use the predictive maps of desirable stand level forest attributes for making an informed management decision of their forest resources. Such map model tools allow stakeholders to test a suite of hypotheses in order to promote a seamless, broad scale multi-value forest management program across Tennessee and other states in the southern region.
-back to top-
Environmentally friendly techniques for managing insect pests in nursery crops
Dr. Karla Addesso
The most recent comprehensive evaluation of the United States environmental horticulture industry reported economic contributions of $147.8 billion in output, 1,964,339 jobs, $95.1 billion in value added, $64.3 billion in labor income, and $6.9 billion in indirect business taxes (Hall et al. 2005). In Tennessee, nursery crops account for 10% of agricultural production with 570 farms contributing nearly $300 million to the state's annual economy (Tennessee Department of Agriculture 2011), approximately $132 million of that value in direct sales (2012 Census of Agriculture). As in other areas of agriculture, insect pest management programs are crucial to the production of healthy nursery stock, but despite the industry's considerable contribution to the United States economy, research on nursery crop pests lags behind in effort and funding focused on vegetables and row crops. The complex nature of the nursery industry due to the large number of plant species grown in individual nurseries is part of what makes nursery pest management research challenging. As such, pests that have large economic impacts, attack multiple, high production genera and are quarantine-restricted are important targets for research. Integrated pest management (IPM) programs that incorporate host plant resistance, cultural, behavioral and chemical controls are more sustainable than programs focusing on only one of these techniques. A key element in developing successful IPM programs is a thorough understanding of insect behavior and chemical ecology. By understanding pest behaviors and identifying the chemicals influencing those behaviors, pest managers can target pests at vulnerable stages in their life cycle and manipulate pest populations so they can be more effectively controlled. In 2009, the Southern Nursery Integrated Pest Management Working Group established the Pest Management Strategic Plan for Container and Field-Produced Nursery Crops. They listed the following research priorities for the nursery industries in the region: (1) making IPM profitable and viable for nursery crop production, (2) investigating whole systems approaches to pest management and (3) development of conservation biological control tactics, such as habitat manipulation with flowering plants, to increase the abundance, diversity, and efficacy of naturally occurring predators and parasitoids. To support these strategic goals, the Chemical Ecology lab will focus resources on the study of arthropod pests that impact a wide range of high value woody ornamental crops. These pests may include spider mites, scales, wood borers, fire ants and other pests each of which affect a wide range of trees and shrubs. We will use behavioral studies of insects on which to base our experimental designs and management methods.
-back to top-
Promote the sustainability of the green industry through research to develop imported fire ant quarantine treatment options
Dr. Jason Oliver
The U.S. nursery, greenhouse, turf, and ornamental producers (green industry) is a major economic and employment provider in many rural and underdeveloped communities with annual sales in the billions of dollars. To be profitable, the green industry must grow, market, and sell their ornamental plants. Issues that limit the ability to sell plants, like labor needs, transportation costs, or government regulations, can seriously affect profitability. Non-indigenous invasive insects are an issue that can add substantial treatment and management costs to industry managers, especially when these pests have quarantine restrictions on plant movement that require applications of certification treatments, whether the pest is present or not. In the southern US, one non-indigenous pest, the imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta Buren, Solenopsis richteri Forel and their hybrid) (IFA), has become a major quarantine issue for nurseries. In the case of IFA, not only are the ants a nuisance and a public health threat due to their stings, but their presence in nurseries requires certification treatments mandated by the Federal Imported Fire Ant Quarantine (FIFAQ). Unfortunately for field-grown nurseries, which grow nursery plants directly in the ground, all of the available FIFAQ certification treatments are very expensive, impractical, or utilize older insecticide chemistries (e.g., chlorpyrifos) that are more toxic to farm labor, have short certification periods (30 days), or may become unavailable in future years. Among the three current FIFAQ field-grown nursery protocols, all utilize chlorpyrifos with the exception of a bifenthrin root ball dip, which is a major issue if chlorpyrifos is removed from the market. This project will evaluate new band spray applications of pyrethroids that have the potential to allow more rapid application of certification treatments for nursery producers, reduce worker exposure during applications, and provide longer certification periods (up to 6 months). An individual tree drench treatment also will be tested to allow producers to only treat plants that are being sold, thus reducing acreage that is treated, environmental contamination, and lowering producer costs. Additional data on post-harvest nursery soil treatments will be obtained to facilitate shipments of larger nursery stock (24 to 32 inch diameter). The ultimate goals of this project will be: 1) to find new alternatives to chlorpyrifos for the FIFAQ and 2) to develop treatment options that reduce grower cost, have longer certification periods, are more practical and compatible with existing production practices, and reduce farm labor exposure and environmental contamination, while still allowing producers to sale their plants outside of the FIFAQ area.
-back to top-
Identification of new nursery crop production practices to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides
Dr. Anthony Witcher
Nursery crop producers may encounter a wide range of factors (biotic and abiotic) that affect crop growth and quality including pests (insects, pathogens, weeds, etc.), mineral nutrition, and the environment (excessive rain, drought, wind, temperature extremes, etc.). Integrated pest management strategies are continually being developed to address the growing number of nursery crop pests. Likewise, best management practices for nursery crop production (methods for minimizing the environmental impact of producing plants) are being more widely implemented throughout the industry. Nevertheless, balancing the environmental and financial impacts of crop production is an ongoing challenge for nursery crop producers. The effectiveness and longevity of pesticides in alternative substrates used for nursery crop production will be evaluated to identify potential practices for reducing pesticide use. Alternative weed management techniques will be evaluated to determine suitability for use in nursery production systems. Methods will also be developed to prevent herbicide resistant weed establishment in nursery crops. Results from this research will be used to identify new nursery crop production practices that increase pest control but reduce use of synthetic pesticides.
-back to top-
Reduce soilborne disease and improve production efficiency in the nursery industry through the identification, evaluation, and communication of effective soilborne disease management strategies
Dr. Fulya Baysal-Gurel
Nursery crops are produced with annual sale value of $5.1 billion in the United States. Nursery crops in Tennessee account for a significant portion of agricultural production with $132 million in sales annually. Soilborne pathogens are a significant problem in the nursery industry, for example, losses due to soilborne diseases in Georgia in 2014 were estimated to be $149 million in ornamental and turf production. Due to the large number of plant species produced in the nursery industry, soilborne disease management research is challenging. These diseases reduce plant growth, increase costs to the nursery grower and cause potential ecological damage to the natural environment. The National Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Road Map has listed "Develop advanced management tactics for specific settings that prevent or avoid pest/disease attack" and efforts to "Improve the efficiency of suppression tactics and demonstrate least-cost options and pest/disease management alternatives" as critical research needs. Soilborne diseases are becoming more difficult to manage because of increased pathogen resistance and restrictions of the use of some chemicals. Conventionally, soilborne diseases are controlled by using soil fumigants, in-furrow fungicides, or fungicide seed treatment. Although environmentally friendly chemical and non-chemical plant disease management methods have been developed, their results are still inconsistent and less effective than the previous standard, methyl bromide. Locally, large- and small-scale nursery producers have asked we develop and validate effective alternative soilborne disease management strategies to improve woody ornamentals productivity and profitability under particular environmental conditions. The integration of biofumigation, chemical and biorational products solely, or in combination, will provide more successful and sustainable solutions for improving soil quality and enhancing natural soilborne disease control in field grown production and propagation systems of woody ornamentals. The long-term goal of the project is to improve production efficiency and reduce soilborne disease pressure through economic and effective applications of biofumigation, chemical and biorational products on field grown ornamental nurseries. Biofumigation, chemical and biorational products will be evaluated in field grown nursery production systems and their effects on plants, microbial communities, and soilborne diseases will be documented. To provide effective and sustainable recommendations to nursery producers with a useful synthesis of our results, the following objectives will be pursued: 1) assess environmentally friendly biofumigants in combination with solarization for soilborne diseases and improved plant growth; 2) assess the efficacy of chemical and biorational products for controlling soilborne diseases with different application methods, intervals and reduced-rate applications in woody ornamentals; and 3) engage in outreach and technology transfer with field nursery producers.
-back to top-
Reduce yield loss by screening and identification of host resistance to Bacterial Wilt in accessions of muskmelon, squash, and pumpkin
Dr. Korsi Dumenyo
Achieving the project's goal of identifying host resistance to bacterial wilt in three of the four major susceptible cucurbits species will yield multiple benefits for U.S. public in the areas of agriculture, environment, and diet. We anticipate that identifying sources of host resistance will set the stage for future advances in clarifying the genetic basis of host resistance. In turn, these advances will lead to the transformation of practical approaches to bacterial wilt management, principally by accelerating development and release of cultivars with meaningful resistance to the pathogen through traditional and molecular approaches of crop improvement. Direct benefits of these breakthroughs will include enhanced profitability of U.S. cucurbit growers, greater resiliency of hundreds of rural communities that depend on their farm enterprises, and an added margin of environmental safety for bees and other organisms that provide critically important pollination services.
-back to top-
Using biotechnology to increase seed production and vegetable oils yield in soybean
Dr. Christine Ondzighi-Assoume
This project aims to maximize seed production and subsequently increase vegetable oils yield to attain high yielding soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) varieties. Glycine max (L.) Merrill belongs to the legume family and is a native of eastern Asia. It has become the most important plant source of edible oils and proteins in the US as well as in the world; for example, 40% of the world's edible oils come from soybeans. The protein content of soybean is 24 to 54%, and the oil content ranges from 8 to 27%. Whole soybeans are an excellent source of protein and dietary fiber. Soy protein has recently attracted a lot of attention because of its ability to lower LDL (bad cholesterol) levels. Because of its high importance as a food crop improvement of seed proteins and oil production need to be achieved. These objectives can be potentially achieved using biotechnology tools that include genetic engineering and cell and tissue culture systems. The use of these tools has an advantage to rapidly incorporate specific traits/improvements within a brief period, especially by the transfer of genes of interest into plants. Thus, the innovation of the proposed research is to manipulate protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) genes that control seed size/weight, an important trait for seed yield/quality and production in Arabidopsis. The discovery of these genes in Arabidopsis spurred us to search for similar genes in the soybean genome. We identified two strong candidates among 12 PDI members, named Glycine max PDI (GmPDI) genes. The two-corresponding encoded GmPDI proteins that display 76% to 85% amino acid identities with the Arabidopsis PDIs. Thus, working on these genes represents an important asset for soybean. This work will help us to understand the role of the PDI genes in seed and oil production in soybeans. The goal of this project is to (i) develop optimum techniques for stable genetic transformation and regeneration of soybean plants under or overexpressing similar PDI genes, (ii) evaluate the resulting transgenic soybean for seed production and oil yields. We will achieve this goal by investigating the following objectives Objective 1: Establishment and maintenance of efficient in-vitro cell suspension culture systems capable of genetic transformation and regeneration in soybeans. Objective 2: Transformation and regeneration of soybean cell culture systems: genetic manipulation of GmPDI genes using CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology. Objective 3: Elucidation of GmPDI gene-products functions in seed production and oil yields: genomic, morphometric, biochemical, and chemical characterizations of CRISPR-Cas9 lines. We will investigate these objectives using multi-disciplinary approaches that include biotechnology, genetic and molecular biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, chemistry, and microscopy using FP-fusion markers.
-back to top-
Increase soybean genetic diversity
Dr. Ali Taheri
Genetic variation is one of the necessities in plant breeding. This variation can be expanded by screening collections of soybean landraces and its related wild species from around the world. It is also possible to generate such genetic variation through induced mutation. The objective of this research is developing an EMS mutagenic soybean population using recently released cultivar "JTN-5203" adapted to the southern states. This population will also be screened for herbicide tolerance mutants.
-back to top-
Developing alternative grain crops adapted to the Southeast using classical and molecular breeding tools
Dr. Matthew Blair
Developing grain amaranth and legume crops summer grain legumes for direct human consumption that are adapted to the state of Tennessee using field phenotyping and transcriptomics. The project has goals to release grain amaranth and grain legume varieties especially mung bean evaluated abiotic stress with, hydroponic fertilizer and photosynthesis evaluation trials, perform sequencing of root tip cDNAs of the two grain species and identification of differentially expressed genes for Aluminum stress. Provide hands-on experiential and collaborative trainings in plant breeding, plant physiology and molecular genetics techniques for undergraduate and graduate students with extension and promotion materials for New Crops. The benefits to stakeholders generated by the successful completion of this project are multiple: including release varieties, germplasm collections, fertilizer recommendations, graduate student thesis and undergraduate projects, extension and research pamphlets, journal publications, meeting presentations or / and full conferences.
-back to top-
Provide new genetic mapping technologies in sweet sorghum for biofuel crop production options for small farmers in the Southeast US
Dr. Ahmad Aziz
Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench] is cost effective to produce, can yield ample quality lignocellulosic biomass, and be nutrient efficient when compared with other similar crops, especially in Southeast region of US. In sweet sorghum varieties, an additional useful biofuel relevant trait is the juice within stalks which is rich in sucrose, fructose and soluble glucose for being rapidly convertible to ethanol by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The ethanol market is one of the fastest growing segments of the sorghum industry in the US. Owing to its high sugar content and ease of extractability, sweet sorghum has the potential to enhance the growing success in the ethanol industry using existing factories without competing with food, feed or fiber systems. The production of sorghum syrup has been an enterprise of small farmers since 1859 and currently some eighty Tennessee producers have four hundred acres of sorghum cane in production. Sorghum biofuel and forage dual-use cultivars with high-value sap sugar content can yield increased BTU/lb biomass for advanced biofuel production that will help offset biomass to biofuel costs. Through DNA barcoding for assessing genetic differentiation while identifying the distribution of herbicide resistance of Tennessee sorghum regional species as per climatic zones, this project will identify any gene-flow while facilitating the development of remedial strategies for against Johnsongrass [S. halepense (L.) Pens.] weed control. Developing advanced genetic tools through individual microspore analyses will help in developing sweet sorghum as dedicated energy crop based on its regional germplasm. Thus, by providing effective marker system for individual cells, as well genetic assessments of regional types this research will be very valuable to the plant breeding and biofuel community in Tennessee, the Southern region and the nation.
-back to top-
Develop a gene editing system in tomato to help understand the function of stress-responsive genes and to develop lines to be used as novel genetic materials in tomato
Dr. Suping Zhou
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) are the second most consumed vegetable in the U.S, behind potatoes. Tomatoes grow best when the daytime temperature is between 65 and 85 degrees F. When temperature reaches above 95 degrees F, fruit-set is severely disrupted, and red tomatoes won't turn color as the pigment (lycopene) cannot be synthesized properly. Tomatoes prefer well-drained soil with a pH of around 6 to 6.8. Plants experience toxicity to excess levels of aluminum (Al), iron and manganese, and deficiency of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus in acidic soils (pH below 5.5). We have taken the first step to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of tomato plant responses to these stress factors. Using genomic and proteomics analysis of stress treated plants, a list of stress-responsive genes have been identified. Among these genes are transcription factors (TFs) which regulate perception of stress signals, and activate/repress the transcriptional rate of single or multiple stress-responsive genes. More importantly, some TFs expressed changes at protein and/or transcript levels in response to the stress treatment. Reported studies have shown that alteration in the expression of these TFs has the potential to produce stress tolerant phenotypes. In this project, we will focus on the TFs as primary targets of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing with a final goal to develop mutant plants to be used in breeding or cultivar development. The project will provide training to graduate and undergraduate students with competent skills in this important biotechnology field.
webpage contact:
SACS