种田农民

The 50th Maize Genetics Conference: genome to
be unveiled,

biofuel improvements discussed and nutritional
enhancements displayed

WHAT:        
50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference

WHEN:        Feb. 27
to March 2, 2008

WHERE:
      
Marriott Wardman Park, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, D.C.

WHO:             
Thomas Brutnell, of the Boyce Thompson Institute, at Cornell
                    University, served as this year’s conference
chair

  NOTE:      Editors, your reporters and
photographers are welcome to attend this conference. To make
arrangement for attending, please contact Steve Moose, of the
University of Illinois, on his mobile phone at (217) 649-2392, or
call Blaine Friedlander of the Cornell Press Office at (607)
254-8093.

ITHACA, N.Y. – The 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference will
be held at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C., from Feb.
27 to March 2, 2008.  Highlights of the conference
include announcing the draft sequence of the maize genome, progress
on improving maize as a bioenergy crop, and the development of
biofortified, nutritionally enhanced corn.

Details of specific highlights:

” Feb. 28, Press conference, announcing maize genome
sequence in the Hoover Room, Marriott Wardman Park, at 12:30
p.m. A consortium led by Richard Wilson, professor of genetics,
Washington University in St. Louis, will announce the genome
sequence for maize. The sequence contains more than twice as many
genes as humans. Understanding the genome sets the stage for rapid
advances in sequencing other crops.  This
knowledge will dramatically accelerate research by corn geneticists
who are working to improve grain yield, nutritional quality,
drought and pest resistance, and the production of renewable
energy.

” Feb. 28, Maize as a bioenergy feedstock, a poster session
on enhancing ethanol production from the U.S. corn crop, from 3 –
5 p.m., Hoover Room.  Michael Edgerton,
research scientist at Monsanto will describe varieties that further
optimize current ethanol production from corn.  Nicholas Carpita, professor of plant biology from Purdue
University, will present research – from lignocellulosic sources
– for exploiting biomass available from corn stalks in generating
biofuels.

” Feb. 28 – Maize and the environment, “Translating
Genomics to Maize Improvement,” scientific discussions, 9 a.m. –
Noon, Thurgood Marshall Room, Marriott Wardman Park. Climate
change can wreak havoc on agricultural productivity, as crops can
be at great risk for temperature extremes and drought.
 A series of talks by Geoff Graham, of Pioneer
Hi-Bred, Tom Green of Dow AgroSciences, and Paul Chomet, of
Monsanto, will present examples of improved corn varieties that
have enhanced tolerance to drought and high temperature stress, and
which are designed to bolster food, feed and renewable energy
productivity.

” Feb. 28 – Maize and the nutrition of vitamin A, 9 a.m. –
Noon, Thurgood Marshall Room. Maize varieties grown throughout
the world contain little provitamin A.  In Africa
where vitamin A deficiencies lead to increased disease and
blindness in millions of children, the biofortification of maize is
an important solution to ending this epidemic. Jianbing Yan, a
research scientist from the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center in Mexico, will explain provitamin A
accumulation in corn.  Using molecular techniques,
maize researchers have developed molecular markers that enable
plant breeders to enhance the provitamin A content in varieties now
being grown in Africa.