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January 2022 Newsletter

Graduate Student Spotlight

Portrait of Marie Klein

Marie Klein

I am an international Ph.D. student at UC Davis in the Department of Plant Sciences, working with Dr. Gail Taylor, Dr. Troy Magney and Dr. Tom Buckley. My research focuses on the genetic and physiological basis of drought tolerance in the tree Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa). I am in the 2nd year of my Ph.D. in the Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate group, which is a fantastic program and community for agricultural studies and plant breeding.
 
I was born in Cologne, the fourth largest city in Germany. Growing in an urban center, far removed from agriculture, I never expected to find myself on a path of becoming an agricultural plant scientist. I found my passion during travels across the Oaxaca and Yucatan regions in Mexico, which are characterized by the production of crops I had never seen in a field before, like cassava, sugar cane and coffee. I decided to pursue a career in agricultural research, earning an undergraduate degree in crop science at the University of Bonn, Germany. I conducted research in Benin, Africa, studying the impact of rainfed rice in natural wetlands on soil carbon storage. Then as a Master’s student, I worked at the Research Center in Juelich and in the Philippines at the International Rice Research Institute to investigate drought stress recovery in rice. Throughout these experiences, I saw what is at stake for vulnerable communities threatened by climate change. The interactions with scientists from all over the world shaped my appreciation for integrative and collaborative science—I have learned that personal growth is accelerated when surrounded by people with diverse perspectives. After completing my Master's, I spent a year as a research assistant working at the Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, studying plant pathogen interactions and the role of mutation in plants.
 
I knew I wanted to pursue a Ph.D., and UC Davis is a world leader in plant breeding and agricultural research. I am thrilled to be part of the excellent community of scientists here studying plants from many perspectives. 
 
My dissertation research aims to discover genes that could be used for breeding drought tolerant bioenergy trees. Black Cottonwood is an extremely fast-growing tree. But its use as a biofuel crop requires breeding genotypes that can maintain production in marginal environments, where they won't compete with food crops. I am studying an experiment of over 7000 trees, representing around 1000 unique natural genotypes that were collected across climate gradients in North America. They are growing next to UC Davis in a fifteen-acre field site under drought or well-watered conditions. The climate of Davis is perfect for studying drought tolerance in general, but especially trees. Our long dry summers allow us to conduct drought experiments like this, controlling the water available and testing for genotypes that perform well even under the harsh conditions. I will perform genome-wide association analyses to detect genes that are responsible for increased drought tolerance. We are hoping to uncover genes that will provide targets for accelerated breeding. Come visit someday—you might find me walking the rows of trees measuring traits or downloading data from our vertical phenotyping platform! 

My long-term goals are to continue working in plant science, either as a researcher in an academic or professional environment. I am passionate about combining genetics, physiology and ecology to develop crops that are better adapted to challenges of changing climates. 
 
If I were to give advice to news students, it would be to seek out diverse views to gain a broad understanding and appreciation for your scientific questions. You never know what new insight will come from talking with someone with a different perspective/background.

Contact Marie at: mcklein@ucdavis.edu
Field of poplar trees
Marie Klein standing beside orchard trees

Events

ASTA Vegetable and Flower Seed Conference 

Jan 29 - 31
San Diego
Register here.

 

NAPB Borlaug Scholars Applications are Open

The self-nomination window is open Jan 10 - April 2, 2022. 
Apply here for upper level Undergraduates.
Apply here for advanced level Graduate Students.

 

Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference

June 7 - 10
Asilomar Conference Grounds
Pacific Grove, CA and online
For more information, click here.
 

News

“Simplifying breeding to improve spearmint oil production”

Flowering mint stalk
Mint oil is a source of flavor used in candy, foods, beverages, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical applications worldwide. To extract mint oil, farmers use a process called ‘distillation’, during which the oil is separated from the mint hay using steam, and then cooled down to be condensed and collected. Farmers have been growing the same few mint varieties for decades because these are complex hybrid clones that cannot produce seeds. This complex genetic background makes mint breeding, and the production of new varieties very challenging. As a result, oil yields have remained stagnant. In addition, disease pressure is rapidly increasing, presenting a significant threat to the sustainability of mint farming.
 
Recently, a team of scientists at the UC Davis Plant Biology Dept. and Genome Center, led by Dr. Isabelle Henry, have explored materials from the USDA mint collection and characterized wild mint relatives with surprising results. “We found tremendous diversity in the materials held at the USDA mint collection (Corvallis, OR), both in terms of genetic variation, but also in the composition of the oil they produced”, reports Dr. Nestor Kippes, a UCD scientist spearheading these breeding efforts. The team also used DNA sequencing technologies to investigate the genetic diversity of mint wild relatives. “Wild relatives are important because they represent the genetic diversity that contributed to the complex hybrids used in mint farming”, added Henry. Characterizing the oil produced by some of these wild relatives in field trials, the team identified accessions that produced oils similar to the current standards for spearmint flavor, as well as others with significantly increased oil yields. They further investigated the potential of breeding these accessions at the diploid level and successfully developed material with combined characteristics (spearmint-type oil and higher yield). “The newly developed materials capture the flavor properties of spearmint oil at the diploid level. Our results show that there is tremendous untapped potential in the mint natural collections, that oil production can reach higher yields, and that mint breeding can be simplified via sexual reproduction of these materials”, added Kippes. This simpler genetic framework can significantly accelerate crop improvement efforts and can help address future problems as well.

“The characterization of materials collected a long time ago from different parts of the world highlights the importance of supporting plant conservation efforts, and the role of germplasm collections as the basis for sustainable farming activities”, added Prof. Luca Comai, also an author in this work.

The work has been published in the recent edition of the journal Nature Scientific Reports. It was made possible by funding provided by Mars Wrigley and relies on the collaboration with the California Intermountain Research and Station Center (IREC, UC ANR) in Tulelake.

Read the open access article here.
Nestor Kippes
field of mint

Gene Editing: A 21st Century Tool to Combat Climate Change

from Real Clear Policy

In the 21st century, agriculture is more technologically sophisticated than ever. And yet, the core challenge for the world's farmers is the same as it has always been: How to maximize the quality and quantity of our food supply while minimizing waste and environmental damage. Read more...



Mechanical harvesting may be future for peppers

An interview with Allen Van Deynze
by Kathy Coatney from Ag Alert
 

Labor shortages are driving mechanization in agriculture. For many commodities, it is mechanize or struggle to remain in business, and peppers are approaching that point.

Mechanical harvest is a No. 1 priority for the California Pepper Commission, and it has been for many years, according to Allen Van Deynze, director of the Seed Biotechnology Center at the University of California, Davis. He said growers are concerned about labor availability and look at mechanization as the answer. Read more...


Leafy greens studies seek to ward off mildew threats

An interview with Charlie Brummer
by Kathy Coatney from Ag Alert

Downy mildew is a primary disease problem for organic and conventional spinach growers in California.

While those growers turn to cultural management practices or chemical applications to protect their crops, researchers are looking for resistant varieties to ward off the disease. Read more...
 

Plant Breeding & Genomics

Did you know that Plant Breeding & Genomics extension (https://plant-breeding-genomics.extension.org/) has literally hundreds of tutorials and webinars with sample datasets and R-code for plant breeding analyses on for example how to run an across location ANOVA in R.  How to breed peanut? How to run a GWAS? How to setup an augmented design, etc.  This is a community of practice built over the last decade with a rich source of information for plant breeders. It is supported by the USDA and the National Association of Plant Breeders.

Job Opportunity

Assistant Professor of Strawberry Breeding and Genetics and Director Elect of the UC Strawberry Breeding Program

Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis
Read the full posting and apply here.

 

The Department of Plant Sciences in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis is recruiting an Assistant Professor of Strawberry Breeding and Genetics and Director-Elect of the Strawberry Breeding Program. This is an academic-year (9-month), tenure-track position with teaching, research, outreach/engagement, and service responsibilities. The appointee is expected to conduct mission-oriented research and outreach/engagement activities relevant to the California Agricultural Experiment Station (https://caes.ucdavis.edu/research/aes). This is an outstanding opportunity to lead the prestigious Strawberry Breeding Program of the University of California. We seek an exceptional candidate for this role, from either academia or industry, who is committed to developing and deploying cutting-edge plant breeding technology to ensure the continued development of successful commercial cultivars of strawberry with enhanced disease resistance, quality, and climate resilience for both field and indoor growing systems. Read a PDF of the posting here.

 
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Plant Breeding Center Staff:
 
Director:
Charles Brummer
ecbrummer@ucdavis.edu

Associate Director:
Allen Van Deynze
avandeynze@ucdavis.edu
 
 


Program Manager:
Amanda Saichaie
asaichaie@ucdavis.edu
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