Poster exhibits of plant genome research sponsored by the National Science Foundation were presented at the ninth annual Coalition for National Science Funding Congressional Exhibition and Reception June 17 in the House of Representatives Rayburn Building. ASPB members Mike Thomashow, Joachim Messing and their colleagues prepared the posters.

Several hundred people attended the exhibition, including several members of Congress, many Congressional staff, officials from the National Science Foundation, White House and Department of Energy and also the exhibit presenters. There were 29 poster exhibits representing a broad range of science disciplines. The exhibits were sponsored primarily by science societies, such as ASPB, and universities.

Sarah Fowler of Thomashow’s lab presented their poster on “Genomic Analysis of Freezing and Drought Tolerance in Higher Plants.” Their poster explained that the CBF Stress Response Pathway in plants is activated by both cold and drought. Expression of the CBF regulon of genes increases both freezing and drought tolerance.

   View Genomic Analysis of Freezing and Drought Tolerance in Higher Plants poster (pdf)

Thomashow’s research seeks to answer three questions related to understanding the genomic basis of cold tolerance:

• Is the CBF cold response pathway highly conserved in plants?
• Can differences in the cold tolerance of plant species be traced to differences in the CBF cold-response pathway?
• Are there additional regulatory circuits and gene networks involved in cold tolerance in Arabidopsis and do they also protect plants against drought and other environmental stresses?

This research has considerable relevance for farmers and consumers. By 2020, the world’s farmers will have to produce 40 percent more grain than they do today to feed humankind, Thomashow and Fowler noted. They said development of crops with increased tolerance to environmental stresses (high/low temperature, high salinity and drought) is an important goal to help meet this challenge. They pointed out that modern genomic approaches provide scientists powerful tools to determine the mechanisms of environmental stress tolerance at a molecular and genetic level.

“A deeper understanding of environmental stress tolerance mechanisms is fundamental to our knowledge of plant growth and development, and has the potential to lead to novel strategies to improve the stress tolerance of plants,” Thomashow and Fowler said.

Congressman Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), who is a senior member of the House Science Committee and a physicist, visited the ASPB exhibit booth featuring Thomashow’s and Fowler’s research. Ehlers reviewed the poster and asked several questions about the research. He was particularly interested in learning just what the CBF Stress Response Pathway is. Fowler and Machi Dilworth, Director of the NSF Biological Infrastructure Division, who had stopped by the exhibit, responded to Ehlers’ questions.

In addition to talking with Michigan Representative Ehlers, Fowler and ASPB Public Affairs staff joined with the Michigan State University lobbyist to visit Michigan Representatives Michael Rogers (R-MI) and Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI) earlier in the day before the exhibition to explain the importance of this research. Thomashow’s and Fowler’s plant genome research supported by NSF is conducted at the Michigan State University-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory. MSU is in Rogers’ district. Knollenberg, a member of the Appropriations Committee, which approves spending for research programs, is in a district near Rogers. Both Rogers and Knollenberg have strongly supported plant research programs.

Congressman David Price (D-NC), a social scientist who is a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that determines spending for NSF, visited the ASPB poster exhibit of Thomashow’s and Fowler’s. Price commented on how he appreciates the interactions he has with ASPB member scientists, including Jim Siedow of Duke University, who is a member of the Committee on Public Affairs. Price has been a key and active supporter of NSF and plant research programs.

Several Congressional staff and officials from the National Science Foundation visited the poster exhibit of Thomashow’s plant stress research. Mary Clutter, NSF Assistant Director heading the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Jane Silverthorne and Anne Sylvester, Program Directors of the NSF Plant Genome Research Program, joined Machi Dilworth in visiting the ASPB exhibit. Officials remarked on the well-attended exhibition.

“Sequencing of the Corn Genome” was the subject of Messing’s poster exhibit. The research is being conducted by the Maize Sequencing Consortium sponsored by the NSF Plant Genome Research Program. The Consortium is composed of the Arizona Genome Research Institute of the University of Arizona, the Whitehead Center of Genome Research of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the leadership of the Plant Genome Initiative at Rutgers.

NSF Director Rita Colwell was among a number of visitors to Messing’s poster exhibit. Earlier in the day, Messing of Rutgers made visits to the office of Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), a physicist, and to the office of Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Messing noted that while rice cultivars seem to differ only with other cereals and not other rice cultivars, there seems to be enormous variation among common corn inbreds in respect to gene order and differences. Messing said there is a need for complete sequencing of the corn genome.

ASPB Public Affairs helped coordinate the overall CNSF Congressional exhibition and ASPB supported the exhibit at which Thomashow’s research findings on NSF-sponsored plant genome research were presented. ASPB Public Affairs also discussed in advance with Thomashow, Fowler and Messing the various aspects of past exhibitions leading up to the ninth annual CNSF Congressional Exhibition and Reception. ASPB Public Affairs helped initiate and coordinate the first CNSF Congressional Exhibition and Reception more than eight years ago. The CNSF exhibition and reception has become the major event of its type on Capitol Hill. The exhibition facilitates education outreach on NSF-sponsored research to an important audience that determines federal funding for NSF and other research agencies.