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Maize Genetics Executive Committee Meeting

Maize Genetics Executive Committee Meeting. Mission of the MGEC.

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Maize Genetics Executive Committee Meeting

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  1. Maize Genetics Executive Committee Meeting

  2. Mission of the MGEC 1. Identify both the needs and the opportunities for maize genetics2. Communicate this information to the broadest possible life science community (scientists, farmers to consumers).3. We Do Not organize the maize genetics conference – this is the job of the steering committee

  3. MGEC Members Elected: William Tracy, 2012 Sue Wessler, 2012 Jeff Bennetzen, 2013 Ed Buckler, 2014 (Chair) Carolyn Lawrence, 2014 MarjaTimmermans, 2015 Nathan Springer, 2015 Sarah Hake, 2016 Jim Birchler, 2016 Appointed: Small college/univ repBrent Buckner (Truman State Univ) Latin American representativeRuairidhSawersEuropean representativeFrank Hochholdinger (University of Bonn)Asian representativeJinsheng Lai

  4. Activities 2011-2012 Sept. 2011. Members of the MGEC met with Diane Okamuro from NSF Plant Genome Program to discuss opportunities for maize research community. Summary is posted on http://www.maizegdb.org/mgec.phpSept. 2011. Several members of the MGEC attended ASPB/HHMI Plant Science Summit to develop a ten-year plan for plant biology. What are the critical gaps in our current understanding and what tools do we need moving forward. A white paper will be generated for a 10 yr plan for investments in plant science.Feb. 2012. Members of MGEC (Lawrence, Schnable, Buckner) and Doreen Ware submitted RCN: “Establishment of the maize genome assembly and annotation consortium” to describe and document what the community would like to see for genome assembly and annotation.Feb. 2012. Brent Buckner worked with John Fowler and Paula McSteen on the Steering Committee to develop the MaGNET Program Several members of MGEC met with members of Congress and aides to discuss value of plant science to state economy.

  5. National Corn Growers AssociationRick Vierling (Director of Research and New Uses)vierling@ncga.comTom Nathan (Grower ) • Good news – research budget is up: Providing money to support the development of functional genomics tools for MaizeGDB (maizeCyc, eFP browser, MapMan) • Bad news – fundamental research ranked 19/20 in priority status from 6000 farmers from 29 states • Need to send the message that the maize research community is addressing immediate crop production needs (e.g. drought tolerance, nitrogen and phosphate use efficiency). • Need good stories – press releases, outreach activities, field trials – and take advantage of opportunities to work directly with growers • NCGA would help with public communication through Research News of the Day, press releases

  6. USDA/ARSJack Okamuro (National Program Leader for Crop Production and Protection-oversees genetics, genomics, biotechnology and biotech risk assessment) • NP301 (plant genetics resources, genomics and genetic improvement) went through a five year assessment, met with stakeholders and outlined a five-year national program action plan. • Budget are shrinking and will create new challenges • closed 9 locations, relocating 280 scientists and support staff, some severe cuts at ARS, • Stock Centers and MaizeGDB not significantly impacted at this point • ARS is committed to the stewardship of the B73 genome • New director for NIFA – Sonny Ramaswamy (Dean Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State) • Undersecretary for USDA – Cathie Woteki • New National Program Leader – acting NPL for grain crops is David Marshall (NCSU)

  7. National Science FoundationKaren Cone (Program Director-Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, managing director iPlant) • Funding opportunities • Plenty of opportunity for maize genetics community to submit proposals to MCB • New Postdoctoral Fellowship for Molecular Breeding • Mid-Career Fellowship to retool for genomics • Emphasis on International Collaborations (Obama and Director of NSF want to globalize research)-search for “International” on NSF • opportunities for collaboration with researchers in Central America and Pacific Islands • changes at BREAD program upcoming is a joint venture between BMGF and NSF to partner with developing country scientists on basic science questions • Tom Okita will be a program director at Plant Genome and are looking for permanent program directors.

  8. 2012 Community Survey • 157 respondents • Topics: • Research directions • Bioinformatics • Education and Outreach • Maydica • Crop Improvement and Specific Suggestions • Sort results by self-assigned demography http://maizemeeting.maizegdb.org/mgec-survey12/analyze_final_sort.php

  9. Research Directions • Advance functional studies of maize genes, gene families, and networks (including reverse genetics resources and developmental atlas RNAseq or proteomic data). • Simplify maize transformation and generate genome engineering capabilities. • Increase high-throughput phenotypingcapabilities for maize.

  10. Bioinformatic Needs • Assembly and annotation: • Improve interoperability among the databases that serve our community including, but not limited to, MaizeGDB, MaizeSequence.org, NCBI, PlantGDB, TAIR, and Gramene. • Develop interaction networksfor maize genes. • Document experimentally confirmed (high-quality) phenotypes. • Improve assemblies and annotations of the B73 reference genome sequence. • Focus on assembly and structural/functional annotation of diverse inbred lines (i.e., move the focus from B73 to additional lines). ≈

  11. Education and Outreach + Maydica • Increase support for training in maize genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. • Support bioinformatics workshops at Maize Genetics Conferences and other locations. = • Maydica is a valuable community resource and we should make efforts to improve the journal including investigation of open-access models and improvements in its visibility. • Maydica is not an important resource to me and our community might be better served by utilizing existing journal (for example, getting additional maize editorial board members for PLoS One).

  12. Crop Improvement and Specific Suggestions • Visit the website to read the great examples of how maize research has had impact: http://maizemeeting.maizegdb.org/mgec-survey12/analyze_final_sort.php

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