PRESIDENT'S LETTER

Tuan-hua David Ho

Globalization of Plant Biology and ASPB

When the American Society of Plant Physiologists (ASPP) was formed as a unit of the Botanical Society of America in 1924, under the leadership of Dr. Charles A. Shull, there were probably no more than a few dozen members (1). Almost a century later, the Society’s membership has reached almost 5,000, with about 40% residing outside the United States. The Society is now an international organization, and our missions are also globally oriented. In addition, the Society has assumed a new name, the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), to reflect the broader interests of our members.

In my first letter as president, I would like to expand on the important message of the global interests of Society members included in the last letter to the membership by our past president, Dr. Sally Assmann (2). Indeed, ASPB has been operating as an international society as evidenced by joint annual meetings with our international counterparts. This year’s meeting in Hawaii, jointly sponsored by several plant science societies in the Asian-Pacific region, drew a near-record number of attendees. The Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists and ASPB will hold a joint annual meeting in Montreal in 2010. We publish two highly visible journals, Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell, with readers, authors, reviewers, and editors in every corner of the world, and an increasing number of international members are serving on editorial boards and committees governing various functions of the Society. ASPB has also established an International Committee that focuses on plant biology-related development and outreach work in Africa and Central and South America.

The science ASPB represents has always been global, but probably more so now than before. Many important initial discoveries in plant growth and development were made in Europe and followed up elsewhere. The phytohormone, gibberellin, was first isolated by Japanese scientists working in Taiwan prior to WWII (3) and is now studied globally. The New World crops—maize, tomato, and potato—are now being grown and studied in many venues outside the Americas. The use of Arabidopsis as a model plant has provided opportunities for plant scientists from all over the world to network, collaborate, and share resources. Genomic research has significantly changed the landscape of plant biology in recent years. Almost all genome-sequencing projects, from moss to poplar, have resulted from extensive international collaborations. If one marks on a world map the affiliations of the many authors involved in genome project publications, large areas of the globe will be highlighted. Probably the most far-reaching global effort in plant biology research is the dialogues and collaborations established between plant scientists in developing and developed regions. A case in point is the research on cassava, which is a major staple food in Africa. A global research effort is currently under way, supported by several international agencies and nongovernmental organizations, to achieve significant improvements in productivity, disease and stress tolerance, and nutrient value. Hopefully, this global effort in plant research will contribute to alleviating widespread famines in Africa. On an even broader scale, the impact of global climate change and the role of plant scientists in formulating responses aimed at mitigating the impacts of this problem have led to renewed interests in photosynthesis, cell wall structure, and lipid biosynthesis as the foundation for enhanced biomass production and biofuel production. Suffice it to say, it has been recognized that plant biology plays a central role in many key areas that would impact global population, including food security, alternative energy, environmental quality, human nutrition, and sustainable development.

Plant-based biotechnology has a global reach as well. Ever since agriculture emerged about 10,000 years ago, farmers in different regions have been sharing their knowledge about plants (and animals) and trading products from their farms. Many modern-day agriculture biotechnology companies have strategic plans for marketing their products globally. Furthermore, they have set up R&D units in different locations to tap into the local talent pool in each region and to work on problems unique to that area. In a recent one-day visit to a biotech company on the East Coast of the United States, I met about 20 scientists representing at least a dozen ethnicities, countries of origin, and cultural backgrounds. Apparently, being able to recruit scientists with diverse backgrounds has contributed to global success in the biotech industry. The future of a sustainable agriculture is very much dependent on being able to breed for better crops, either following the traditional approach or via genetic engineering (4). The issues related to genetically modified (GM) crops have certainly caught world attention; this technology is being adopted, debated, or rejected by people on every continent. It is intriguing to note that the Agrobacterium-based plant transformation technique, which is so widely used in producing GM crops, was developed simultaneously by several labs in North America and Europe. The Agrobacterium system was initially studied as a basic research problem in an academic environment, yet it took only a decade to be developed into a powerful tool for biotechnology. The line dividing basic and applied research has indeed become blurred and the global impact of both is substantial and growing.

Challenges facing plant biology are mounting on the global scale. The Green Revolution, ushered in by the late Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug, ameliorated the problem of food shortage in many developing countries for decades. However, the problem in front of us now is multidimensional. As New York Times journalist Tom Friedman (5), an expert on globalization issues, pointed out, global warming and rapidly growing population lead to the convergence of an even more challenging problem of a “hot, flat and crowded” world. The term “flat” refers to the global reach of problems; that is, no region or people is going to be immune from the pending challenge. On the other hand, it also means a global challenge can effectively be tackled only by a global approach, and the solution has to be multidimensional as well. Both basic and applied plant research are essential components of the needed response, with support from both public and private sectors.

What is the function of ASPB in this process? Dr. William H. Danforth, chancellor emeritus of Washington University, in his special lecture at the 2009 Plant Biology meeting in Honolulu, encouraged all of us to participate and be proactive. Being an M.D. with no experience working with plants, he has nonetheless been instrumental in creating the new National Institute of Food and Agriculture. ASPB needs to continue serving as a strong advocate for the plant biology community. We are in the middle of strengthening our Public Affairs Department so that we will have effective communication with the government and the general public. In the global arena, the Global Plant Council (GPC) formed this past summer will allow ASPB and its partner societies around the world to form a unified agenda in tackling problems of common interest.

As the new president of ASPB, I am committed to strengthening the international and multidisciplinary reach of our Society. I hope that many members will find ways to contribute to this important effort.

Tuan-hua David Ho

References

1. Hanson, J.B. (1998). History of the American Society of Plant Physiologists. Rockville, MD: ASPP.
2. Assmann, S.M. (2009). An International Society. ASPB News 36(5): 5-7.
3. Yabuta, T. (1935). Biochemistry of the "bakanae" fungus of rice. Agriculture and Horticulture 10: 17–22.
4. Hamilton, R. (2009). Agriculture’s Sustainable Future: Breeding Better Crops. Scientific American Earth 3.0 19: 16–17.
5. Friedman, T.L. (2008). Hot, Flat, and Crowded. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.