SOUTH CAROLINA: Jumping on the jumping gene bandwagon to speed up plant breeding
Getting a new variety of corn, tomato, soybean or other crop to market can be a long and costly effort, with breeders working to ensure the eventual product has the right mix of genetics that will let it withstand change, produce large amounts of fruit or seed and taste good. A new technology, developed with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, seeks to shorten that process and make it cheaper by taking advantage of naturally occurring transposable elements, or "jumping genes," within the plant's genome.
About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research, education, and outreach aim to have an impact at the nexus of food security and the environment and position the St. Louis region as a world center for plant science. The Center’s work is funded through competitive grants from many sources, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and through the generosity of individual, corporate, and foundation donors.