b'The Genetic Power of Native Grasses An update on the exploration of how wild grass genetics can be used to improve corn and sorghum.Treena Hein FOR MANY YEARS,crop breeders have employed theProject Detailsstrategy of adding genes from wild forms of a crop into vari- Currently, the genomes of more than 700 wild grass species are eties already bred for widespread cultivation, through crossingbeing sequenced. After that, each genome will be compared and other methods. Wild relatives can contain important genesto that of hundreds of other wild grass species and also to that are either dormant or not present in their cultivated cousinsmodern maize and sorghum varieties. In terms of the next steps,genes related to insect and disease resistance, drought/heatproject lead Ed Buckler, geneticist at the USDA-Agricultural tolerance and much more. These traits, as anyone in crop farm- Research Service and adjunct professor at Cornells Institute of ing knows, are growing in importance as the impacts of climateBiotechnology, expects the genetic data to be used in two ways change ramp up. to improve corn and sorghum. Now, with corn and sorghum, extensive sampling of wildOne way is to reverse recent gene mutations in corn or sorghum grass species from around the world combined with cutting- genes that have occurred over the last few centuries, reverting the edge machine learning software is taking the wild approach togenes back to active forms still found in most cultivars and native an entirely new level. About two years ago, researchers from thewild grasses and relate to important yield-boosting traits. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Cornell University andThe first goal in this process is to identify bad mutations in other institutions began examining hundreds of non-cultivatedmaize and sorghum and then selected against them, Buckler species of the Andropogoneae group of grasses, which includeexplains. The wild species help us identify what is bad. Machine corn/maize, sugarcane, wheat, sorghum, rice, barley and oats.learning enables us to analyze massive amounts of data to figure Domesticated forms of these wild relatives have fed humansout how bad.for millennia and are still found on more than 25% of our planets For traits that are adaptive however, such as temperature land mass. The efforts to gather wild grass samples is led byand drought tolerance, the breeding strategies will be diverse. Elizabeth Kellogg and her team at the Donald Danforth PlantThe wild species might highlight patterns that already exist in Science Center in St. Louis.maize or sorghum, but well need to cross unrelated germplasm The work is being supported by a $5 million grant from theto modern varieties get the result we want, Buckler explains. In National Science Foundation and also includes collaboratingother cases, gene editing will be needed to introduce the vari-researchers from University of California-Davis, Cold Springation. Overall, the hope with learning from closely-related wild Harbor Laboratory and Iowa State University. Both commercialspecies is that we dont have to introduce new genes, but rather and public-sector plant breeders will be able to use the results. change how when and where the genes are expressed. 26/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2020'