Location: Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research
Project Number: 8062-21000-052-017-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 work on all aims of the project, providing support to the PI in the Parent Project to manage and coordinate the work across all subcontracts and scopes of work. In addition, the collaborator will participate on AIM 4 to understand mechanisms for viability and growth in cold temperatures. The cooperator will lead and participate in the evaluation of germplasm under cold conditions at different levels, from diverse germplasm at scale both in the field and in the cold chamber to more detailed evaluation of plant and cell level responses on the few top performing transgenes or natural alleles.