Week 6

"Strengthening a billion-dollar gene in soybeans"

Soybean cyst nemotode (SCN) does hundreds of millions of damage each and every year. A couple of crop sciences researchers believe they have found a possible way to strengthen plant resistance. They have studied a spot on chromosome 18 called Rhg1, which is the spot most known for the source of SCN resistance. Most of the SCN-resistant soybeans in the midwest contain Rhg1. One of the researchers wanted to find out what the DNA sequence was that was resistant. The researchers used a process called fine mapping to narrow down the genes as to which one it could be. They discovered that a group of four genes had been replicated several times. They used a program that allowed them to count the number of genes in a row. The researchers artifically increased the expression rates of three of the genes together on the roots of the soybeans, and could replicate the resistance effect. Usually in multicellular organisms, it is strange to have several genes next to each other that control the same traits.



Source:  http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2012/10/15/strengthening_a_billiondollar_gene_in_soybeans.html