Research Focus

Development of lines of peanut adaptable to the Southwest, with new value-added characteristics to lessen the impact of biotic stress.   Specific objectives include:   1) identify disease resistance in germplasm and breeding lines of peanut, 2) develop conventional peanut lines with combined value-added traits such as disease resistance and improved oil quality, 3) develop procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of such combined traits including greenhouse and field plot methods; 4) determine patterns of inheritance and genetic mechanisms regulating expression of resistance and other desirable traits; and 5) identify molecular markers correlated with disease resistance in peanut cultivars and/or severity of pathogenicity among various peanut pathogens.   Methodology involved with this research includes, but is not limited to, traditional peanut crossing, disease assessment in greenhouse and field, cloning and sequencing of DNA, PCR, SSR analysis, Southern and northern blotting, in vitroand in vivo enzyme production, determination of oil content and kernel hardness by NIR and capillary electrophoresis, enzyme purification and detection, antibody production, and plant and bacterial tissue culture.

RESEARCH PROJECTS AND PUBLICATIONS