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Washington University in St. Louis News & Information > News Topics > Science & Technology >
Plant Sciences / Agriculture
With links to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the Missouri Botanical Garden, both located in St. Louis, Washington University biologists and chemists collaborate with researchers in two of the most widely admired plant institutions worldwide. Research in plants from arbabidopsis to cassava has illuminated the plant science world about the workings of genes and the history of plants. Biologists are seeking ways to engineer plants to become more efficient in self-protection. They also are studying genes and biochemical processes in plants such as a process called DNA methylation, a chemical modification in cytosine, one of the four chemical subunits of DNA. Without proper DNA methylation, higher organisms from plants to humans have a host of developmental problems, from dwarfing in plants to tumor development in humans to certain death in mice. The world's first genetically engineered food crop, tomatoes, was developed here in the late 1980s by Roger Beachy, President of the Danforth Center and Professor of Biology at Washington University, with collaborators at Monsanto, Co.
| Faculty Experts: |
Showing Plant Sciences / Agriculture Experts 1 through 5 of 8.
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Gayle J. Fritz
Associate Professor of Archeaology in Arts and Sciences
Expertise: human-plant interrelationship, plant remains, subsistence continuity, agricultural systems, paleoenthnobotany, develpment of agricultural systems, plant domestication, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-8588
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gjfritz@wustl.edu
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Ralph Quatrano
Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., is the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences and chair of the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He is internationally known for his plant science work on patterns of embryo formation, and how the patterns lead cells to acquire traits or ...
Expertise: Plants, plant biology, botany, moss, genome, algae, genes, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-6850
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rsq@wustl.edu
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Glenn Davis Stone
Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies in Arts & Sciences
Stone is an ecological anthropologist who has studied indigenous agricultural systems for the past 20 years. He has written extensively on intensification, labor organization, sexual division of labor, ethnicity and production, spatial organization and especially relationships between population, conflict ...
Expertise: ecological anthropology, political and historical ecology, agricultural biotechnology, settlement patterns, population, ethnoarchaeology, Web-based scholarship, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-5239
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stone@artsci.wustl.edu
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Roy Curtiss
Professor emeritus of biology in Arts & Sciences
Has developed a Salmonella-based oral vaccine for livestock that can free animals from the virulent strain of Salmonella that causes food-poisoning in humans. His vaccine has received FDA approval for swine and poultry and is on the market. Curtiss also has obtained patents for the use of transgenic ...
Expertise: Salmonella, food poisoning, FDA, vaccine, genetic engineering, microbial, pathogen, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-6819
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rcurtiss@wustl.edu
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David Ho
Professor of Biology
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| Ho |
Has discovered a single gene in barley that controls several traits--height, maturity, drought resistance and strength. Moreover, he has genetically engineered a molecular switch that could turn on the process of such a gene. Impacts on agriculture could be immense. American farmers could save more ...
Expertise: plant biology, developmental biology, molecular genetics
Direct contact: (314) 935-4632
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ho@biology.wustl.edu
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Showing Plant Sciences / Agriculture Experts 1 through 5 of 8.
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| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing Plant Sciences / Agriculture Stories 1 through 3 of 29.
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New dean announcement
Quatrano named interim dean of Arts & Sciences
May 13,
2008 --
Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor and chair of the Washington University Department of Biology, has been named interim dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences effective July 1, 2008, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. He succeeds Executive Vice Chancellor Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., dean of Arts & Sciences and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences.
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In the mix
Research aims to produce energy on the farm
April 15,
2008 --
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| David Kilper/WUSTL Photo |
| Muthanna Al-Dahhan (left) and graduate student Rajneesh Varma are researching effective ways to take agricultural waste and make biofuel out of it. |
Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis, using an impressive array of imaging and tracking technologies, have determined the importance of mixing in anaerobic digesters for bioenergy production and animal and farm wastes treatment. They are studying ways to take "the smell of money," as farmers long have termed manure's odor, and produce biogas from it.
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Living on "the red edge"
Bacterium sequenced the first to make rare form of chlorphyll
Feb. 8,
2008 --
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| David Kilper/WUSTL Photo |
| Robert Blankenship, professor of biology and chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, holds the cyanobacteria Acaryochloris marina, a rare bacterium that uses chlorophyll d for photosynthesis. |
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Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State University have sequenced the genome of a rare bacterium that harvests light energy by making an even rarer form of chlorophyll, chlorophyll d. Chlorophyll d absorbs "red edge," near infrared, long wave length light that is invisible to the naked eye. In so doing, the cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina, competes with virtually no other plant or bacterium in the world for sunlight.
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Showing Plant Sciences / Agriculture Stories 1 through 3 of 29.
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New study advances method to make energy from farm waste
Associated Press
and 81 others
April 17,
2008 -- WUSTL engineers, including WUSTL chemical engineering professor Muthanna Al-Dahhan, using imaging technology have found that vigorous mixing helps microorganisms turn farm waste into alternative energy.
The goal is to produce a simple method that farmers can use to treat their waste and generate energy.
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Group says it has mapped corn genome
Associated Press
and 76 others
Feb. 26,
2008 -- Richard Wilson, director of WUSTL's Genome Sequencing Center, comments on the successful mapping of the corn genome.
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A few tips to lead a 'greener' lifestyle
DailyIndia.com (FL)
and 3 others
Jan. 14,
2008 -- Matt Malten, WUSTL assistant vice chancellor for campus sustainability, offers a few tips on how to lessen your impact on the environment without spending a lot of bucks. "The old adage of reduce, reuse, recycle remains apropos. We must remind ourselves that the first step is always to reduce our demand of natural resources," Malten said.
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Mimicking plant evolution proves fruitful
MSNBC.com
Jan. 11,
2008 -- By mimicking plant evolution, a team of Illinois researchers has improved upon nature's design to build a leafy energy-producing powerhouse — or at least a virtual one on a supercomputer. In a study published within the journal Plant Physiology, WUSTL biology and chemistry professor Robert Blankenship comments on the Illinois study.
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Drought Can Destroy Diversity
LiveScience.com
Oct. 22,
2007 -- Scientists are more interested than ever in the effects of extreme climate swings, such as prolonged drought, because the computer models predict wilder extremes as one effect of the climate change now underway.
WUSTL biology professor and ecologist Jonathan Chase comments on his study that appeared in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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International university presidents declare energy research crucial
Associated Press
and 3 others
May 8,
2007 -- AP story on a three-day energy and environment conference at WUSTL, hosted by the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.
Thirteen university presidents from around the world urged government agencies and corporations to pour more resources into finding new sources of energy that don't harm the environment, calling it the most pressing problem facing the world today.
WUSTL chancellor Mark Wrighton comments.
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Hopes for a Renaissance After Exodus in St. Louis
The New York Times
and 3 others
April 17,
2007 -- Article looks at St. Louis' effort to rebuild its image in the face of population loss and public school accreditation problems.
WUSTL architecture professor John Hoal, who has been involved in numerous municipal planning projects, comments on the redevelopment effort.
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Professor Says Mo. Should Protect Caves
Associated Press Online, West End Word (St. Louis)
and 44 others
March 8,
2007 -- WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor Robert Criss warned that Missouri is losing too many of its caves to development.
Missouri has an international reputation among scientists, caving enthusiasts and tourists.
Criss, WUSTL geologist G.R. Osburn and graduate students Jennifer Lippmann and Everett Criss, Robert Criss' son, studied many of the 127 reported caves in St. Louis County.
Their paper, the Caves of St. Louis County, was recently published in the journal Missouri Speleology. Speleology is the exploration and study of caves.
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Keeping the Fruits of Research Close to Home in St. Louis
The New York Times
Feb. 7,
2007 -- Article on the efforts of WUSTL chancellor emeritus William Danforth and civic leader John Dubinsky to reorient the business climate in St. Louis. St. Louis has great research institutiions like WUSTL, but "we have not done so well with the commercialization of that science."
In 2001, Danforth -- along with a number of other business and civic leaders -- founded the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences, a nonprofit group. The goal was to jump-start St. Louis' nascent biotechnology industry by providing both new and mature companies with increased access to financing and up-to-date facilities.
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Genomic "time machine" may pinpoint divergence of human and Neandertal
Scientific American
Nov. 16,
2006 -- Article reports on two research teams who say they have rebuilt, or sequenced, long segments of Neanderthal DNA using the 38,000-year-old remains of a 38-year-old male, found in a Croatian cave.
The technique is not only yielding new insights into Neanderthals, reported in Nature and Science, it's also likely to prove an important tool in teasing out secrets about how plants and animals evolved.
WUSTL anthropologist Erik Trinkaus says he sees problems with how the two teams interpret some of their information.
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Republicans tense as voter disillusionment sets in
USA Today
Sept. 5,
2006 -- Iraq is one of several tides running against GOP candidates, driving away independent voters and some party faithful. Except for Missouri, independent voters in five Senate races polled by USA Today were swinging toward the Democrat. Party loyalty was stronger among Democrats than Republicans in every state but Ohio. Michael Minta, professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, comments on how the stem cell research issue is dividing Republicans in Missouri.
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Bird extinction pace worries scientists
Kansas City Star
and 19 others
July 5,
2006 -- New research shows that birds are becoming extinct faster than scientists have thought.
A group of scientists that included WUSTL biology professor and conservationist Peter Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, revised the existing extinction estimate to take into account ongoing fossil discoveries of extinct species and missing birds not yet classified as extinct. The results of their study appear this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Democrats hope to divide G.O.P. over stem cells
The New York Times
and 1 others
April 24,
2006 -- Democrats are pressing their support for embryonic stem cell research in Congressional races around the country, seeking to move back to center stage an issue they believe resonates with voters and to exploit a division between conservatives who oppose the science and other Republicans more open to it.
Former U.S. Senator John Danforth, an Episcopal minister, and his brother, William, WUSTL chancellor emeritus, have taken a prominent role in promoting the amendment.
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WUSTL to study corn's genetic code
CBS News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
and 42 others
Nov. 16,
2005 -- WUSTL Genome Sequencing Center researchers will lead a project to decipher the genetic code of corn, which they say should provide the knowledge leading to better corn yields.
Lead investigator Richard Wilson comments.
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Blunt counters Blagojevich's courting of stem cell researchers
Associated Press
and 4 others
Sept. 15,
2005 -- Missouri Gov. Blunt has shot back at his Illinois counterpart's effort to attract scientists and institutions involved in embryonic stem cell research to Illinois.
Blunt said in a letter to life sciences companies that he opposes the "prohibition and criminalization" of stem cell research. The letters were sent to U. Missouri, WUSTL and the KC Stowers Institute for Medical Research, among others.
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Field Museum gets a new superstar
Chicago Tribune
and 15 others
Sept. 7,
2005 -- The skeleton of Clint the chimp, whose blood sample was used to map the chimpanzee genome, will reside at the Chicago Field Museum. The chimp died recently of heart failure at the age of 24. His remains will be safeguarded for future research.
WUSTL geneticist Richard Wilson, who participated in the chimp project, comments.
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Popularity of plant is affecting its evolution, study finds
Associated Press and The New York Times
July 5,
2005 -- Over the past 100 years, a species of Himalayan snow lotus has lost almost four inches in height. Missouri Botanical Garden scientist Jan Salick and WUSTL biology graduate student Wayne Law say direct and rapid evolutionary change is a result of human actions. Medicinal collectors pick the tallest plants because they are considered more potent, and for tourists, no doubt the larger the flower the better. The entire plant is picked just as it is flowering and before it releases seeds.
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Stem cell bill gains steam
Chicago Tribune
and 16 others
May 17,
2005 -- Armed with fresh hope of overturning President Bush's limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell studies, Republican members of Congress held an unusual hearing in a Chicago courtroom Monday to rally support for expanding the controversial research. To counter the argument that adult cells are valid alternatives, two researchers who specialize in adult stem cells — including WUSTL's Steven Teitelbaum — were invited to explain the advantages of embryonic cells.
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St. Louis waits for Bio-Belt to bloom
Chicago Tribune
and 12 others
May 2,
2005 -- Article on the outlook for bioscience hotspots focuses on St. Louis.
For years this fading industrial center has poured a fortune into the genetic engineering of plants, ignoring critics of the controversial technology and enduring a long stretch with little to show for its investment.
Now, finally, St. Louis is starting to see a payoff, putting some welcome distance between itself and the many other cities trying to hit it big in biotech.
Comments from John Biggs, Roger Beachy, Peter Raven, and WUSTL chancellor Mark Wrighton.
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Study surveys human intestines
San Jose Mercury News (California)
and 17 others
April 15,
2005 -- In the first comprehensive survey of this realm, Palo Alto scientists found 395 strains of bacteria living in the intestines of healthy people. Most were previously unknown to science. WUSTL's Center for Genome Sciences director Jeffrey Gordon, who was not involved in the study, comments. A separate study at WUSTL, reported last year, raises the intriguing possibility that intestinal bugs may help determine if a person is prone to getting fat.
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