Location: Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research
Project Number: 8062-21000-052-018-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2024
End Date: May 31, 2027
Objective:
The objective of this research is to determine the potential impact of enhanced maize cold tolerance on crop yield, resilience, and sustainability in the US Corn Belt under current and future climates (AIMS1 & 2). This is complemented by a gene and allele discovery pipeline that taps into the adaptations found in maize landraces, teosintes, and related species in the Andropogoneae. These adaptations will be dissected genetically, physiologically, and biochemically to nominate candidate gene targets for enhanced cold tolerance and establishment under cold conditions. Leading candidate hypotheses will be evaluated using transgenic and editing technologies (AIMS 3 & 4). By the end of year 3, we should have a clear evaluation of whether there is sufficient genetic/physiological variation in these relatives to have a meaningful impact on applied corn production in the Corn Belt.
Approach:
The Cooperator will focus their research on AIM 1,2,3, and 4. The Cooperator will collaborate in data collection to improve model parameterization for biological processes related to cold tolerance in maize and assessment of the effect of cold tolerance in Midwestern corn. In addition, the Cooperator will lead the development of transgenic materials and germplasm screening at scale. Their research will include participating in a series of experiments to generate data to develop model functions and a parameter sets for relevant germplasm, which will be selected from the Genomes to Fields hybrid checks and other relevant materials and organize the generation of initial transgenic products for the candidate genes selected by other members of the project. Moreover, the Cooperator will lead the evaluation of different germplasm in the field across locations, participate in the development of Gene-to-Phenotype models, and in the evaluation of maize under controlled environments.
