Knocking Out SDS?

Knocking Out SDS?

Fifteen scientists from five states are pooling their high-tech expertise to battle a fungal disease that annually blights or kills roughly 2 percent of the nation's soybean crop.

The joint effort, headed by SIUC plant scientist David Lightfoot, aims to control soybean Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) through biotechnology.

SDS is enlarging its range and takes a greater toll each year on soybean growers' bottom lines, Lightfoot says. Despite progress made at SIUC and elsewhere to breed resistant beans, he estimates that around 90 percent of varieties are still susceptible.

"That's why we think biotechnology will be key to limiting future damage," he says.

A new $450,000 grant from the United Soybean Board is underwriting the first year of what Lightfoot expects to be a three-year project involving researchers from SIUC, The Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland, Iowa State University, Purdue University, the University of Georgia, and the University of Illinois.

The work will include:

trying to identify and find ways to protect the soybean protein or proteins that the fungus targets.
figuring out how resistant plants function differently from those that are susceptible.
searching for soybean genes that seem similar to fungus-resistant genes in other plant species, testing those soybean genes against SDS, and, if show promise, trying to boost their effectiveness.
using technology patented by SIUC to equip high-yielding soybean varieties with a whole set of resistance genes, rather than just a few.

Researchers will also be trying to answer questions about the fungus. Why does it kill only soybeans, even though it affects many plant species? How does it reproduce? Why is one strain more aggressive than another? How many toxins does the fungus manufacture and what exactly do they do?

The team wants to develop a greenhouse assay for the fungus--a quick, reliable means of detecting its presence in soybean plants well before disease symptoms would appear.

"With a simple assay that works, breeders could then develop resistant varieties more quickly and with less expense. It's a breakthrough waiting to happen," Lightfoot says.

Besides Lightfoot, the SDS experts on the project at SIUC are adjunct faculty member Javed Iqbal and assistant professor Khalid Meksem.

--K.C. Jaehnig, Media & Communication Resources

For more information: Dr. David Lightfoot, Dept. of Plant, Soil, and Agricultural Systems, (618) 453-2496.

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