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USDA/ARS/MWA - Soybean/Maize Germplasm, Pathology & Genetics Research Unit & University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign - Department of Crop Sciences |
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S-123 Turner Hall 1102 South Goodwin Avenue Urbana, IL 61801-4730 |
(217) 333-6631 [phone]
(217) 333-6064 [fax] maize@uiuc.edu [e-mail] http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/maize |
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32,112 seed samples have been supplied in response to 277 requests for 2008. These include 76 requests received from 23 foreign countries. Popular stock requests include the NAM RIL populations, Hi II lines, ig1 lines, Stock 6 haploid-inducing lines, male sterile cytoplasms, transposable element lines, Maize Inflorescence Project EMS lines, and Chromatin stocks.
Approximately 7.2 acres of nursery were grown this summer at the Crop Sciences Research & Education Center located at the University of Illinois. Despite frequent heavy rains during the first part of spring, we managed to plant our crossing nurseries on schedule. Smaller than normal stands were observed in parts of the field that were covered with standing water for a day or two. By mid-June, more seasonable rainfall patterns were established and we had a normal pollination season without the need for supplemental irrigation. Moderate temperatures and low plant stress during and following pollination resulted in excellent yields.
Special plantings were made of several categories of stocks:
1. Plantings were made of donated stocks from the collections of David Brawn (tdy1 and tdy2 alleles), James Brewbaker (Hi27 near-isogenic mutant lines), Kelly Dawe (abnormal chromosome 10 deficiencies) Patrick Dubois (phyB1 phyB2 lines), Jerry Kermicle (various r1 alleles), Gerry Neuffer (recent EMS-induced mutants), the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station (r1-cherry accessions from tribal maize), Ron Okagaki (EMS-induced wx1 alleles and Spm change-of-state mutations), Peter Rogowsky (embryo-lethal mutants), Mark Settles (vp10 and vp15 alleles), Margaret Smith (male sterile cytoplasm lines), and others. The dominant amylose extender1 mutant Ae1-5180::Mu1 came off patent this year and we have increased it and made it publicly available as well. We expect to receive additional accessions of stocks from maize geneticists within the upcoming year.
2. We conducted allelism tests of several categories of mutants with similar phenotype or chromosome location. We identified additional alleles of pink scutelum1, viviparous5, lazy1, chlorophyll1, white3, and pale yellow9. In 2009, we plan to test additional members of the viviparous and pale endosperm classes of mutants. In this manner, we hope to incorporate more stocks from our vast collection of unplaced uncharacterized mutants into the main collection.
3. Occasionally, requestors bring to our attention stocks that do not carry the traits they are purported to carry. We devote field space each year to analyzing these stocks, fixing or enhancing those we can, and soliciting replacements from researchers for those we can't. In those rare instances in which a particular variation or combination of variations cannot be recovered, we modify our catalog to reflect this.
4. We further characterized the Enr (Fcu) system of r1 aleurone color enhancers and published a paper on the results. We are continuing attempts to transposon tag Enr1 using one of Tom Brutnell's transposed Ac lines. We are collecting and characterizing additional alleles of Enr1 and other r1 aleurone color enhancers and inhibitors.
5. Samples of 2,004 phenotypeÐonly stocks were sent to the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado for back-up. Selected samples from the main collection not yet sent were also pulled and sent this year. These represent stocks that had not been previously backed up. Our new inventory system has made selecting ears to be sent and producing a packing list to accompany them a much more efficient procedure.
6. Two acres were devoted to the propagation of the large collection of cytological variants, including A A translocation stocks and inversions. Additional translocations received from W. R. Findley and Don Robertson marked with wx1 were checked with linkage tests to confirm the chromosome arms involved. For those where we found no linkage, all sources were discarded. We were also able to add another useful wx1 marked translocation from Susan Gabay-Laughnan in which the chromosome arms involved have been confirmed. These changes were all entered into MaizeGDB in 2008.
7. Stocks produced from the NSF project "Regulation of Maize Inflorescence Architecture" (see: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/servlet/showaward?award=0110189) were grown again this summer. Approximately 250 families of M2 materials that were produced in 2006 and 2007 were grown to increase seed supplies and recover previously observed mutations. Also, 1,553 families of 2006 and 2007 M2 EMS materials were grown for adult plant observation; the materials observed include B73 and Mo17 inbred lines and the B73xMo17 hybrid. Visitors from 5 different institutes traveled to Illinois to walk these fields and found many new mutant phenotypes that will be added to the project database.
We grew a winter nursery of 0.5 acres at the Illinois Crop Improvement Association's facilities in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico in 2007/2008. We received a good increase of most lines. We did not have sufficient funds in our budget to grow a winter crop in Puerto Rico this year. Critical plantings of a few lines were made in the greenhouse, but the lack of a field grown winter crop represents a set-back to our program, not only because of the loss of a nursery generation, but also because it is easier to transfer mutations out of tropical backgrounds into Midwest adapted backgrounds under winter conditions.
We have received close to 5,000 of the Nested Association Mapping Recombinant Inbred Lines (NAM RILs) consisting of 25 populations, from the Molecular and Functional Diversity of the Maize Genome project (http://www.panzea.org/lit/germplasm.html) . Complete sets of this material are available to those willing to increase and redistribute seeds to their company or institution; requests for subsets of this material will be available. There are also additional lines from the Functional Genomics of Maize Chromatin project (see: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/servlet/showaward?award=0421619); most of these are unconfirmed lines. The Maize TILLING Project (http://genome.purdue.edu/maizetilling/) has also donated an additional 1,712 lines to our current holdings.
Our IT Specialist has continued to make updates and improvements to our curation tools, which are used to maintain data for our collection. These tools input our public stock data directly into MaizeGDB to give maize scientists access to up-to-date information about our collection. The tools are also used for our internal database (e.g., inventory, pedigrees and requests). A new pedigree-entry tool was developed that reduced pedigree data entry time significantly and other tools were rewritten or written from scratch to import many years of unentered pedigree information. A tool to generate field notes conveniently and easily was created and will be modified to also generate harvest tags. Our web site and all other services have been migrated to a new hardware/software arrangement, which is much more reliable and faster than the old setup. Maintenance continues on our web site (http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/maize).
The new greenhouse space in Urbana is being used for our third winter crop. The space has proven to be excellent for growing material that doesn't do well under our field conditions. Our new seed storage space presently has 803 seed storage drawers of the 1,584 the room will eventually hold (pending funding). Thanks to the help from the National Program Staff, we finally have enough new storage drawers to unpack and organize the approximately 36,000 Maize Targeted Mutagenesis (http://mtm.cshl.org/) lines we have held, up to now, in boxes in the aisles of our storage rooms.
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Marty Sachs |
Philip Stinard |
Janet Day Jackson |
Shane Zimmerman |
Josh Tolbert |