Crops and Germplasms

In regions that traditionally support cereal crops, penetration of the viticulture industry has been difficult because of widespread use of 2,4-D broadleaf-weed killer on large industrial fields. Typical formulations of the ubiquitous herbicide are highly volatile and are prone to drifting long distances. Unfortunately, grapes display a high sensitivity to even minute exposure to 2,4-D, which causes serious injury, crop losses and even vine death.

This technology is a method for genetically modifying and successfully cultivating a transgenic variety of the Chancellor Grape that can tolerate up to twenty times the rate of 2,4-D used to control broadleaf weeds in corn. The invention could allow for the establishment of wineries in Midwestern and Eastern areas where there is extensive use of 2,4-D.

The Midwest was once a major grape and wine producing region in the United States, but widespread use of 2,4-D herbicide on corn and soybean fields beginning in the 1950s stalled vineyard production and expansion. Over the past decade, Illinois has seen a reemergence of viticulture in the Southern and Central regions of the state. Acreage of vineyards has increased almost 500 percent, since 1997.

To meet increasing demands for resilient, productive grape varieties and to provide support for local vineyards, this technology was developed to alleviate some of the tensions that accompany growing grapes in the vicinity of industrial crops and farms.

Because there is no known 2, 4-D resistance in grape germplasm, 2, 4-D breakdown genes had to be engineered by somatic embryogenesis into select Chancellor Grape DNA to improve grape survival rates in cereal-crop growing regions. By incorporating the modified tfdA gene into the Chancellor's genetic sequence, this invention provides the encoding for an enzyme that degrades 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) to dichlorophenol (DCP). The synthetic DNA sequence comprises a natural microbial sequence that encodes the enzyme in which at least a plurality of the codons of the natural microbial sequence have been replaced by codons more preferred by a plant.

This invention also provides methods of selecting plants and plant cells that have been transformed with a DNA construct according to the invention using an auxin herbicide.

Applications

• Quality grape production: The Chancellor wine grape is a complex hybrid developed in France by Albert Siebel in the late 1800s and introduced into the United States in the 1940s. Chancellor wine is a dry, heavy bodied grape with a rich plum-cedar aroma and a dense ruby-violet color, which is grown for its earthy taste and is frequently used in wine blends.
• Suited to Midwest cultivation: Chancellor Grape vines are vigorous and high yielding plants with moderate susceptibility to powdery mildew when growing under hot, moist and calm conditions such as exist in the eastern U.S. The warm and moderately drying breezes of the Midwest provide the ideal microclimates for growing Chancellor Grapes.

Benefits

• Resists 2, 4-D herbicide: This transgenic variety of Chancellor Grape, a French-American hybrid that is popular in the Northeast and Midwest because of its ability to grow in harsh conditions, can now be grown in close proximity to fields that use the broadleaf weed killer.
• Grow multiple crops: Farmers who wish to diversify their crops in order to protect against price fluctuations and to attract tourist interest can plant Chancellor Grape vines without concern of interference from herbicide treatment.
• Manageable, Prolific crop: The Chancellor Grape vine is known for its relatively low maintenance. It requires minimal pruning and produces large grape clusters that are easy to spray and pick.
• Potential to modify other species: With further research, the tfdA gene could potentially be incorporated into other species of grape, offering growers even more latitude in choice of plant and vineyard location.

Grain breeders and dealers rely heavily on the compositional properties of many different types of grain, including: soybeans, corn, rice, and wheat etc. The most common variables assessed for commercial and nutritive properties of grains are oil and protein content, both of which are highly variable. Content assessment is a frequent occurrence in a seeds lifetime: grain breeders assess content individually, per seed, to select the best line for crop production; dealers on the other hand will likely assess content in bulk each time the grain changes hands to set a price point.

This invention uses a new, untapped type of spectroscopy to assess the protein and oil content of grains. It is completely unaffected by moisture content, is significantly more robust in the presence of contaminants, and is dramatically more accurate and reproducible. This technology is a type of spectroscopy that uses Raman principles. A beam of light is passed through the sample of interest; some of the light is scattered, and some is passed through; the light that passes through is collected and analyzed.

The different resultant wavelengths indicate the presence or absence of certain bonds (all parts of organic molecules). The spectra are compared to the necessary proprietary calibration set from UIUC researchers to quantitatively indicate molecule-of-interest presence.

Applications

This technology is applicable in any grain testing environment where NIR can be used, such as grain breeding and dealing facilities. It can detect with very high sensitivity and specificity many organic compounds (for example, it has to potential to differentiate between individual amino acids) and therefore has significant potential for analysis of animal feedstocks.

Benefits

This technology solves many of the problems posed by NIR, the conventional method of grain testing.

• More robust and less susceptible to operator error and machine abuse
• Less susceptible to dust and contaminant fouling, both of which are ubiquitous in the operating environment of such devices.
• Not susceptible to variation in atmospheric water, or grain moisture content
• Significantly more accurate, sensitive, and reproducible than NIR

Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a method of testing soil Soybean Cyst Nematode populations for virulence that can be performed in a matter of hours instead of the 4-6 weeks required for the existing type test.

This test, in the form of a qPCR assay, makes use of genetic sequences found in SCN to determine whether a particular cyst is avirulent or virulent on either of two commercially available resistant soybean plant lines, Peking and PI88788. Hghaem, the SCN gene, can also be used in marker-assisted selection to find soybean plants suitable for breeding lines specifically resistant against SCN virulence genes.

This test is faster than the existing type test, does not require a greenhouse, is more cost effective, and can be performed on a greater number of samples at a time.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) have discovered a gene for soybean aphid resistance in the soybean cultivars Dowling and Jackson. The soybean aphid was identified in the Midwestern United States as a significant infestation in July of 2000 and has since expanded to twenty-one states and other parts of North America. This soybean production threat has the potential to decrease yields through plant damage such as stunting, leaf distortion, and reduced pod set in soybean plants. In addition, the soybean aphid is capable of transmitting viral diseases that naturally infect soybean plants.

The University of Illinois and USDA-ARS have identified and mapped the first genetic locus, designated Rag1 (proposed), which conditions resistance to the soybean aphid. Furthermore, methods for identifying and breeding resistant plants by marker-assisted selection (MAS) have been developed.

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign together with scientists from the USDA-ARS evaluated 100 cultivars that account for nearly 90% of the genetic variety in US soybeans and subsequently identified 3 different cultivars that show resistance to soybean aphids. The gene conferring resistance has been mapped and tentatively designated Rag1. Rag1 has been tested in greenhouse and field and has consistently prevented soybean aphid colonization. Because it is a single dominant gene, with identified DNA markers, it can be readily introgressed into aphid-susceptible commercial soybean germplasm by backcrossing using marker assisted selection.

The technology available for license is a method for determining the presence or absence of Rag1 in a soybean germplasm and a method for producing an inbred soybean plant selected to confer soybean aphid resistance. 

Benefits

• Rapid, straight-forward introgression of Rag1 source of aphid resistance into susceptible soybean cultivars by MAS. 
• Prevents successful aphid colonization on plants by reducing aphid multiplication, survival, lifespan, and development of nymphs to adults.
• Deters aphids from feeding on plants containing the gene.
• Reduces the need to apply insecticides to control aphids, thereby reducing the input costs for soybean producers and the impact on the environment.