Maize Genetics Executive Committee
Meeting
1
. Identify
both the needs and the opportunities for
maize genetics
2.
C
ommunicate
this information to the broadest
possible life science community (scientists, farmers
to consumers).
3. We
Do Not
organize the maize genetics
conference
–
this is the job of the steering
committee
Mission of the MGEC
MGEC Members
Elected:
William
Tracy, 2012
Sue
Wessler
, 2012
Jeff
Bennetzen
, 2013
Ed Buckler,
2014 (
Chair
)
Carolyn Lawrence, 2014
Marja
Timmermans
, 2015
Nathan Springer,
2015
Sarah Hake, 2016
Jim
Birchler
, 2016
Appointed:
Small college/
univ
rep
Brent Buckner (Truman State
Univ
)
Latin
American representative
Ruairidh
Sawers
European representative
Frank
Hochholdinger
(University of
Bonn
)
Asian
representative
Jinsheng
Lai
Sept
. 2011.
Members of the MGEC met with Diane
Okamuro
from NSF Plant Genome
Program to discuss opportunities for maize research community.
Summary is posted
on
http://
www.maizegdb.org
/
mgec.php
Sept
. 2011.
Several members of the MGEC attended ASPB/HHMI Plant Science
Summit to develop a ten
-
year plan for plant biology. What are the critical gaps in
our
current
understanding and what tools do we need moving forward
.
A white paper will
be generated for a
10
yr
plan
for investments in plant science.
Feb. 2012
.
Members of MGEC (Lawrence,
Schnable
, Buckner) and Doreen Ware
submitted RCN: “Establishment
of the maize genome assembly and annotation
consortium” to describe and document what the community would like to see for
genome assembly and annotation
.
Feb. 2012.
Brent Buckner worked with John Fowler and Paula
McSteen
on the
Steering Committee to develop the
MaGNET
Program
Several members of MGEC met with members of Congress and aides to discuss value
of plant science to state economy.
Activities 2011
-
2012
National Corn Growers Association
Rick
Vierling
(Director of Research and New Uses
)
vierling
@
ncga.com
Tom Nathan (Grower )
•
Good news
–
research budget is up: Providing money to support the
development of functional genomics tools for
MaizeGDB
(
maizeCyc
,
eFP
browser,
MapMan
)
•
Bad news
–
fundamental research ranked 19/20 in priority status from
6000 farmers from 29 states
•
Need to send the message that the maize research community is
addressing immediate crop production needs (e.g. drought tolerance,
nitrogen and
phosphate use efficiency).
•
Need good stories
–
press releases, outreach activities, field trials
–
and take advantage of opportunities to work directly with
growers
•
NCGA would help with public communication through Research
News of the Day, press releases
USDA/ARS
Jack
Okamuro
(National Program Leader for Crop Production
and Protection
-
oversees genetics, genomics, biotechnology
and biotech risk assessment)
NP301 (plant genetics resources, genomics and genetic improvement) went through a
five year assessment, met with stakeholders and outlined a five
-
year national program
action plan.
Budget are shrinking and will create new challenges
•
closed 9 locations, relocating 280 scientists and support staff, some severe cuts at
ARS,
•
Stock Centers and
MaizeGDB
not significantly impacted at this point
•
ARS is committed to the stewardship of the B73 genome
New director for NIFA
–
Sonny
Ramaswamy
(Dean Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State)
Undersecretary for USDA
–
Cathie
Woteki
New National Program Leader
–
acting NPL for grain crops is David Marshall (NCSU)
National Science Foundation
Karen Cone (Program Director
-
Division of Molecular and
Cellular Biosciences, managing director
iPlant
)
Funding opportunities
•
Plenty of opportunity for maize genetics community to submit proposals to MCB
•
New Postdoctoral Fellowship for Molecular Breeding
•
Mid
-
Career Fellowship to retool for genomics
Emphasis on International Collaborations (Obama and Director of NSF want to
globalize research)
-
search for “International” on NSF
•
opportunities for collaboration with researchers in Central America and Pacific
Islands
•
changes at BREAD program upcoming is a joint venture between BMGF and NSF
to partner with developing country scientists on basic science questions
Tom
Okita
will be a program director at Plant Genome and are looking for
permanent program directors.
2012 Community Survey
•
157 respondents
•
Topics:
–
Research directions
–
Bioinformatics
–
Education and Outreach
–
Maydica
–
Crop Improvement and Specific Suggestions
•
Sort results by self
-
assigned demography
http://maizemeeting.maizegdb.org/mgec
-
survey12/analyze_final_sort.php
Research Directions
•
Advance functional studies
of maize genes,
gene families, and networks (including reverse
genetics resources and developmental atlas
RNAseq
or proteomic data).
•
Simplify maize transformation
and generate
genome engineering capabilities.
•
Increase high
-
throughput
phenotyping
capabilities for maize.
Bioinformatic
Needs
–
Improve assemblies and
annotations of the
B73
reference
genome sequence.
–
Focus on assembly and
structural/functional annotation of
diverse inbred lines
(i.e., move the
focus from B73 to additional lines).
•
Assembly and annotation:
•
Improve interoperability among the databases
that serve our
community including, but not limited to,
MaizeGDB
,
MaizeSequence.org
, NCBI,
PlantGDB
, TAIR, and
Gramene
.
•
Develop interaction
networ
ks
for maize genes.
•
Document experimentally confirmed (high
-
quality)
phenotypes
.
≈
Education and Outreach +
Maydica
•
Increase support for training
in maize
genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics.
•
Support bioinformatics workshops
at Maize
Genetics Conferences and other locations.
Maydica
is a valuable
community resource
and we
should make efforts to improve
the journal including
investigation of open
-
access
models and improvements in
its visibility.
Maydica
is not an important
resource to me
and our
community might be better
served by utilizing existing
journal (for example, getting
additional maize editorial
board members for
PLoS
One).
=
Crop Improvement and Specific
Suggestions
•
Visit the website to read the great examples of
how maize research has had impact
:
http://maizemeeting.maizegdb.org/mgec
-
survey12/analyze_final_sort.php
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