For Immediate Release

CSREES Awards More Than $4.7 Million for Tomato and Potato Specialty Crops Genetic Research

USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) announced in October more than $4.7 million in grants to 13 universities and research laboratories for tomato and potato specialty crops genetic research that may lead to improved fruit quality, yield, stress tolerance and disease resistance.

ASPB members receiving grant awards include W. Brad Barbazuk, Robin Buell, Dina St. Clair and James Giovannoni.

"Specialty crops are a major contributor to U.S. agriculture and are valued at $53 billion in sales annually," said Gale Buchanan, USDA under secretary for Research, Education and Economics. "New knowledge is needed to develop plants with enhanced economic value, which will ultimately allow the specialty crop industry to remain competitive in the global environment and contribute to the U.S. economy."

The goal of the research program is to increase fundamental knowledge of the structure, function and organization of plant genomes to improve agricultural efficiency and sustainability; effectively integrate modern molecular breeding technologies and classical breeding practice for U.S. crop improvement; and improve U.S. varieties for agricultural growers and producers.

The President's 2007 Farm Bill proposal calls for a $100 million investment in specialty crop research to address the critical needs of the industry. These grants support the goal of conducting fundamental work in plant breeding, genetics and genomics to improve crop characteristics, such as product appearance, environmental responses and tolerances, nutrient management, pest and disease management, as well as safety, quality, yield, taste and shelf life. The House passed its version of the Farm Bill this year, but passage has been delayed in the Senate.

Total Fiscal Year 2007 grants of $125,000 to $399,500 were awarded to:

Lukas Mueller, Cornell University, $399,000, Development of a Comprehensive Solanaceae Phenotype and Locus Database (SOL PAL)

W. Brad Barbazuk, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, $398,000, Developing an Accurate Computer Program to Identify Potential Genes in the Tomato Genome Sequence

Robin Buell, Michigan State University, $398,500, Comparative Genomics Resources of the Solanaceae: Tools and Resources for Cross-species Translational Genomics

Matthew Robbins, Ohio State University, $125,000, Genomic Resources for the Investigation of Yield and Fruit Quality in Tomato

Luca Comai, University of California – Davis, $399,500, Tilling Resources for the Tomato Genomics Community

Dina St. Clair, University of California – Davis, $396,500, Quantitative Resistance to Late Blight (Phytophthora Infestans): High-Resolution QTL Mapping to Enhance Marker-Assisted Breeding in Tomato

Shizhong Xu, University of California – Riverside, $394,500, Mapping QTL for Multiple Traits Using Bayesian Statistics

John Scott, University of Florida, $399,000, Fine Mapping of a Begomovirus Resistance Gene

James Bradeen, University of Minnesota, $386,500, Comparative Structural Genomics of the Potato Tertiary Genepool: Improving Access to Agriculturally Significant Genes

Amit Mitra, University of Nebraska, $301,000, Functional Map of the Tomato Genome Using Direct Repeat Induced Gene Silencing

Andy Pereira, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, $399,500, Development of a Versatile Mutant Resource in Tomato for Functional Genomics Analysis

James Giovannoni, USDA-ARS, Vegetable Crops Research Unit, University of Wisconsin, $399,500, Tomato Fruit Epidermis and Carpel Genomics: Tools for Gene Discovery, Functional Analysis and Enhancement of the Solanaceae Toolkit

David Spooner, USDA-ARS, Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, Cornell University, $399,500, COSII-based Mapping and Diversity in the Solanaceae
The awards are funded through the CSREES National Research Initiative Plant Genome Program. Dr. Ed Kaleikau is National Program Leader for the NRI Plant Genome Program.