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GENES-IN-SPACE PROJECT GETS NEW RUN ABROAD SHUTTLE
05 April 2000 - University of Wisconsin-Madison
| Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have a chance in April to build evidence that microgravity is fertile ground for crop improvement.
The Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, in partnership with the Indiana biotechnology company Producers' Natural Processing, will direct a research project aboard NASA's April 24 space shuttle mission, STS 101. |
The goal: Demonstrate that genetic transformation of agricultural crops, an arduous and inefficient task on earth, has better odds in space. Weijia Zhou, director of WCSAR, says the research payload will start with 1,000 germinating soybean seeds. Once in orbit, shuttle astronauts will add a solution that contains agrobacterium, which serves as a vector for enabling genes to enter plant cells and become integrated in the plant's genome. The target gene in this year's project could produce in soybeans an "edible vaccine" being developed by PNP. A second "reporter gene," which gives off a green fluorescent color, is used so scientists can detect whether the transfer occurred. This test will build on the qualified success of WCSAR's first gene transfer experiment in November 1998. That experiment produced a 10-fold increase in transformation compared to a control group of soybean seeds on earth. Normally, transferring desirable genes into soybeans has success rates of only about one in 1,000. However, the experiment fell short because the virulence of the agrobacterium overwhelmed the seeds and ended up killing them. Zhou says the group made improvements to this year's experiment to improve the survival rates of seeds. "Gene transformation is a game of numbers," says Bratislav Stankovic, a WCSAR scientist and investigator on the project. "When the odds are this low, it takes a lot of effort and money to get transformed plants. If we improve the odds by a couple orders of magnitude, we could see real benefits for agriculture." Gene transfer is being employed for a variety of goals in agriculture, with one of the most common being improving the natural pest resistance of crops. Other developments include improving frost resistance and adaptability to extreme climates, and expressing vaccines or other nutritional benefits in foods. Edible vaccines could be a major health advance by helping immunize people in Third World nations more cheaply and easily. It's an exceedingly inefficient process for many crops, such as corn, soybeans, sugar beets or bananas. Why microgravity seems to improve this process is still up in the air, the researchers say. The prevailing theory is that the increased buoyancy or suspension time of the genetic material allows more time for genes to be integrated. Sponsored by NASA, WCSAR pursues commercialization of space technology and utilization of space to enhance product development. The organization developed a series of plant growth technologies that paved the way for numerous controlled studies aboard the space shuttle. This marks the ninth space shuttle mission for WCSAR.
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About: University of Wisconsin-Madison
In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as one of America’s great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Many of its programs are hailed as world leaders in instruction, research and public service.The university traces its roots to a clause in the Wisconsin Constitution, which decreed that the state should have a prominent public university. In 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin’s first governor, signed the act that formally created the university, and its first class, with 17 students, met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849. From those humble beginnings, the university has grown into a large, diverse community, with about 40,000 students enrolled each year. These students represent every state in the nation, as well as countries from around the globe, making for a truly international population. UW-Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Wisconsin System, a statewide network of 13 comprehensive universities, 13 freshman-sophomore transfer colleges and an extension service. One of two doctorate-granting universities in the system, UW-Madison’s specific mission is to provide "a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help insure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all." The university achieves these ends through innovative programs of research, teaching and public service. Throughout its history, UW-Madison has sought to bring the power of learning into the daily lives of its students through innovations such as residential learning communities and service-learning opportunities. Students also participate freely in research, which has led to life-improving inventions from more fuel-efficient engines to cutting-edge genetic therapies. Students, faculty and staff are motivated by a tradition known as the "Wisconsin Idea," described by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904 as the compelling need to carry "the beneficent influence of the university ... to every home in the state." The Wisconsin Idea permeates the university’s work and helps forge close working relationships among university faculty and students and the state’s industries and government. |
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