PBS Medium - University of Minnesota · 2019. 3. 29. · PBS Medium Director’s Notes Welcome to the first issue of the PBS Medium, the PBS program’s newsletter. The PBS Medium - [PDF Document] (2024)

PBS Medium

Director’s Notes

Welcome to the first issue of the PBS Medium, the PBS

program’s newsletter. The PBS Medium will be

produced periodically to highlight current events in the

PBS program, student achievements, and notes from

program Alumni. In this issue, you can read about

students who have recently been awarded degrees, and

learn about all the awards students have received and

papers they have published. Very impressive! With the

1st-year students now settled in to their labs, we are

preparing to welcome the next class at Itasca in August.

Jane Glazebrook

Director

Transitions

Regents Professor and McKnight Presidential Chair Ronald L.Phillips retired at the end of May, 2010, after 42 years

on the faculty of the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics.As stated at his induction into the National Academy

of Sciences, "Dr. Phillips has coupled the techniques of plantgenetics and molecular biology to enhance our

understanding of basic biology of cereal crops and to improvethese species by innovative methods.‖ A celebration of

Ron's exemplary career was held on Monday, May 24, 2010, with anall-day symposium. The symposium featured several

of Ron's previous 55 graduate students and some postdoctoralscientists talking about their recent research. The evening

dinner was a gala affair with music, fun and reminiscences.

6/3/2010 Volume 1 Issue 1

2009 Incoming Class at their Itasca Orientation from left toright:

Zhou Fang, Steve Eichten, Alicia Knudson, Moumita

Chakravartty, Peng Yu, Cece Martin, You Lu.

Upcoming Events...

Itasca Orientation August 17th

– 22nd

First day of Fall semester Tuesday, September 7th

Upcoming seminarshttp://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/events/Spring2010.shtml

New Additions to PBS

R. Ford Denison, Adjunct Professor, Department of Ecology,Evolution, and Behavior

Research: Evolution of legume-rhizobium mutualism; agriculturalimplications of past and ongoing natural selection; life-

history tradeoffs as a possible explanation for stress-inducedlongevity.

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/eeb/faculty/DenisonRFord//

Adrian Hegeman – Assistant Professor, Department ofHorticultural Science

Research: The Hegeman laboratory uses high throughput massspectrometric analysis to measure hundreds to thousands

of compounds simultaneously in plant extracts. These data setscan be used to provide comprehensive descriptions of the

molecular status of a biological system or to define diagnosticmetabolic differences between groups of plants and varied

environmental or genotypic backgrounds. A major research focusconcerns the creation of new isotope-assisted

metabolomics tools and resources that can take advantage of ourcapacity to metabolically label plant materials with stable

isotopes.

http://horticulture.cfans.umn.edu/Adrian_Hegeman.html

Igor Libourel - Assistant Professor, Department of PlantBiology

Research: Systems analysis of metabolism, metabolic adaptationand environmental relationships.

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/LibourelIgor/index.shtml

David Moeller - Assistant Professor, Department of PlantBiology

Research: Evolution of species’ geographic ranges, Ecology andgenetics of speciation, Mating system and floral

evolution, Evolution of plant-herbivore and plant-pollinatorinteractions, Molecular population genetics and

phylogeography.

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/MoellerDavid/index.shtml

Jennifer Powers – Assistant Professor, Departments of Ecology,Evolution & Behavior; Plant Biology; and Soil, Water

and Climate

Research: Terrestrial biogeochemistry, ecosystem processes,microbial ecology, tropical ecology and landscape ecology.

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/Powers%20Jennifer/index.shtml

Imke Schmitt - Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Biology,Curator of Lichenized Fungi, Bell Museum of Natural

History

Research: Evolution of lichenized fungi, molecularphylogenetics, symbiosis, fungal systematics, evolution of

biosyntheic genes.

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/Schmitt/index.shtml

Robert Stupar - Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy andPlant Genetics

Research: My research focuses on soybean molecular genetics.Specifically, my lab is interested in defining the

transcriptional variation present in soybean and assessing therelationship between this transcriptional variation and

phenotypic variation. We are also interested in identifying thegenetic and epigenetic causes of this variation.

http://agronomy.cfans.umn.edu/STUPAR_ROBERT_M.html

In Memory

Peter Graham, Professor in the Department of Soil, Water andClimate died suddenly on May 9, 2009. Peter had been

with the University of Minnesota since 1982. Peter’s researchcentered on the symbiotic relationship of legumes and

rhizobia. Peter is survived by loving wife of 47 years,Rosemary; children, Michael (Joanne), Geoff (Dale), Michelle

Graham; grandchildren, Kealan, Sydney, Samantha, Eric andMatthew.

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/eeb/faculty/DenisonRFord/http://horticulture.cfans.umn.edu/Adrian_Hegeman.htmlhttp://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/LibourelIgor/index.shtmlhttp://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/MoellerDavid/index.shtmlhttp://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/Powers%20Jennifer/index.shtmlhttp://www.cbs.umn.edu/plantbio/faculty/Schmitt/index.shtmlhttp://agronomy.cfans.umn.edu/STUPAR_ROBERT_M.html

Student Achievements

Great Accomplishments -- PBS students received an array ofawards!

The PBS Financial Aid Committee awards PBS students for travelto conferences and meetings each spring, summer, and

fall. This past year students have gone to events such as theAnnual Meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists,

the Ecological Society of America’s 95th Annual Meeting, and theMetabolomics 2010 conference, to name a few. They

will be traveling as far away as Quebec, Amsterdam, andIndonesia. The students that received travel awards this past

year are Jessica Biever, Moumita Chakravartty, Amy Dykstra,Carrie Eberle, Steve Eichten, Roseanne Healy,

Jo Heuschele, Xing Liu, Cece Martin, Ryoko Oono, Suma Sreekanta,Mike Wilson, Tim Whitfeld,

Heather Whittington and Peng Yu.

Carolyn Crosby awardees-Amy Dykstra, Jo Heuschele, MoanaMcClellan and Tim Whitfeld.

MPGI Travel awardees: Xiaoqing Sun and Tim Whitfeld.

Amy Dykstra received a Minnesota Center for Community Geneticsresearch grant.

Roseanne Healy received financial awards from A Survey oftruffles and false truffles in Minnesota oak woodlands and

savannas from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources;Graduate Student Award from the Society of Systematic

Biologists, and Friends of Farlow Fellowship, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge, MA.

Jo Heuschele received the Midwest Aquatic Plant ManagementSociety Research Scholarship.

Mike Nelson received a two-year IGERT Fellowship.

Timothy Whitfeld received a Deland Award for Student Research,Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University for thesis field

work in Papua New Guinea; a Graduate seminar, EEB8990(Functional Traits) award for analysis of leaf nutrientcontent,

for thesis project; and the Dayton Fellowship Award fromEEB.

Xing Liu attended the Cold Spring Harbor Course.

PBS Summer Fellowship Recipients – Summer 2009

Jessica Biever, Moumita Chakravartty, Jing Chen, John Compton,Amy Dykstra, Carrie Eberle, Brendan Epstein, Kai-

Ting Fan, Sajeet Haridas, Roseanne Healy, Jo Heuschele, HeHuang, Lingtian Kong, Xing Liu, Moana McClellan, Toko

Mori, Sumitha Nallu, Ryoko Oono, Chris Pinahs, Yiping Qi,Jessica Savage, Kerrie Sendall, Suma Sreekanta, Xiaodong

Sun, Xiaoqing Sun, Ye Sun, Heather Whittington, and MikeWilson.

Publications:

Springer, N. M., Eichten, S., Smith, A., Papa, C. M., Steinway,S., and S. M. Kaeppler. ―Characterization of a novel

maize retrotransposon family SPRITE that shows high levels ofvariability among maize inbred lines.‖ Maydica, in press

(2010).

Quint, M., Barkawi, L. S., Fan, K., Cohen, J. D., and W. M.Gray. "Arabidopsis IAR4 modulates auxin response by

regulating auxin homeostasis." Plant Physiology: 150:748-758, inpress (2009).

Zhang, W., Ito, H., Quint, M., Huang, H., Noel, L., and W. M.Gray. ―Genetic analysis of CAND1-CUL1 interactions in

Arabidopsis supports a role for CAND1-mediated cycling of theSCFTIR1

complex‖ Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 105(24):

8470-5, in press (2008).

Healy, R. A., and G. Kovaks. ―Ultrastructural observations onthe ascomata and ascospores of the truffle Mattirolomyces

terfezioides.‖ Botany 88: 85-92, in press (2010).

Healy, R. A., Bonito, G., and J. M. Trappe. ―Calongea, a newgenus of truffles in the Pezizaceae (Pezizales).‖ Anales del

Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid 66S1: 25-32, in press (2009).

Smith, M. E. and R. A. Healy. ―Otidea subterranea sp. nov.:Otidea goes below ground.‖ Mycological Research 113: 858-

866.

Healy, R. A., Palmer, R. G., and H. T. Horner. ―Multicellularsecretory trichome development on soybean and related

Glycine gynoecia.‖ International Journal of Plant Sciences: 170,in press (2009).

Healy, R. A., Bonito, G., and G. Guevara. ―The Truffle genusPachyphloeus in the U.S. and Mexico: phylogenetic

analysis and a new species.‖ Mycotaxon: 107: 61-71, in press(2009).

Healy, R. A., Richard, J. L., Niyo, K. A., and M. A. Klich. ―InMemoriam: Lois Hattery Tiffany 1924-2009.‖ Mycologia,

in press (2010).

Negi, G., Sukumar, P., Liu, X., Cohen, J. D., and G. K., Muday.―Genetic dissection of the role of ethylene in regulating

auxin-dependent lateral and adventitious root formation intomato.‖ The Plant Journal: 61, 3-15, in press (2010).

Oono, R., Denison, R. F. And E. T. Kiers. ―Tansley review:Controlling the reproductive fate of rhizobia: how universal

are legume sanctions?‖ New Phytologist: 183: 967-979, in press(2009).

Weiblen, G. D., Lomascolo, S., Oono, R., and E. R. Dumont.―Nutritional dimorphism in dioecious figs.‖ Biotropica, in

press

Oono, R., Schmitt, I., Sprent, J. I., Denison, R. F. ―Multipleevolutionary origins of legume traits leading to extreme

rhizobial differentiation.‖ New Phytologist, in press(2010).

Kittelson, Pinahs*, *C., Dwyer, J., Ingersoll, A., Mans*,E.,*Rieke, J., Rutman, B., and M. Volenec. ―Age-structure and

Genetic Diversity of Four /Quercus macrocarpa /(Michx.)Populations in Fragmented Oak Savanna Along the Central

Minnesota River Valley.‖ American Midland Naturalist: 161:301–12, in press (2008).

Sun, Y., Reinders, A., LaFleur, K., Mori, T. and J. Ward.―Transport activity of rice sucrose transporters OsSUT1 and

OsSUT5.‖ Plant Cell Physiol: 51(1):114-122. In press (2010).

Whitfeld, T. J. S. and G. D. Weiblen. ―Five new Ficus speciesfrom Melanesia.‖ Harvard Papers in Botany, in press

(2010).

Recent Graduates

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Edward Gilding (adv. David Marks) earned his

Ph.D. in June 2009. Ed is doing a post doc at the

University of Queensland in Australia.

Lingtian Kong (adv. David Marks) earned his

Masters degree in June 2009. Lingtian is

currently working on a degree in the Mathematics

Department here at the U of M.

Yiping Qi (adv. Fumiaki Katagiri) earned his

Ph.D. degree in October 2009. He is currently

working as a post doc at the University of

Minnesota in the Department of Genetics, Cell

Biology and Development with Dan Voytas.

Songqing Ye (adv. Jerry Cohen) earned his Ph.D.

degree in September 2009. He is currently

working as a research associate on a joint grant

with Jerry Cohen and Janet Slovin at the USDA-

ARS in Beltsville, MD. Songqing is working

with Janet, at the USDA lab and at the University

of Maryland, College Park.

Yun Zhou (adv. Min Ni) earned his Ph.D. degree

in January 2010. Yun currently holds a post doc

position at the California Institute of Technology.

Updates

The Plant Biological Sciences Program would like to extend a

thank you to all the faculty and students serving oncommittees

during this past year. We truly appreciate all of your

dedication and hard work!

Thanks to five months of diligent preparation and work afterthe

Open House, the Admissions committee finished the process of

reviewing applications for incoming students. We are happyto

announce that there will be seven new faces joining us thisfall.

Peng Yu and You Lu have been awarded a three-year

Monsanto Fellowship. This fellowship was created in 2009, as

Monsanto created a grant of $10 million to help young

scientists in research of wheat and rice.

More good news! Moana Mcclellan has been awarded a one-

year Fulbright Fellowship. She will be spending most of next

year in Costa Rica working on her research.

Tim Whitfield has received the Graduate School Doctoral

Dissertation Fellowship.

Cece Martin has received the Minnesota Agricultural

Experiment Station/CFANS Graduate Research Fellowship.

Kelsey Morovic, a student worker, was awarded the

Outstanding Student Employee Award for her phenomenal

work in the Plant Biology Main Office!!

Moana McClellan received the Interdisciplinary Doctoral

Fellowship for 2010-2011.

Phytograd Corner by Cece Martin

This was a great year for the Phytograds. The new studentorientation at Itasca

Biological Research Station was an informative and fun week fornew students,

Peng, Zhou, Alyson, Alicia, Yu, Cece, and Steve, and to getacquainted with current

students and faculty in a beautiful setting. The orientationretreat was full of

adventure and learning as we went on two bog walks, canoed,hiked to the

Mississippi headwaters, completed labs,

went fungi/lichen hunting, relaxed at the

end of the week cookout, and so much

more. Back on campus we started out with

a meeting in the fall to plan out our fun

year. Fall semester included the annual Greenhouse party, whichwas a bit rained

out but still a good time. Later in the semester we got togetherto catch-up and

enjoy a relaxing lunch at Mim’s café.

In the winter the Phytograds welcomed prospective students in aneventful open

house weekend. In addition to the PBS on-campus activities,several students including: Jessica, Ye, Kai-Ting, Mike, and

Cece showed the potential students a fun night of french fries,malts, and dancing at the Kitty Kat Club. The winter

continued to be a season packed full of amusing get-togethersfor the Phytograds. Several students cheered on the

Minnesota Rollergirls at a Rollerderby bout at the Famous RoyWilkins Auditorium in downtown St. Paul. Rumors

abound that a few grad students may consider joining theRollerderby themselves. What could their derby name be?

Perhaps, Helianthus Paci-FLOOR US! Once the excitement from thederby calmed down several students including:

Heather, John, Ye, Peng, Kai-Ting, Jessica, and Cece, headed upfor a relaxing weekend of skiing, movies, and brownies

at winter Itasca. The weather was ripe for skiing on Saturdayand we

skied to the visitor’s center, on the lake, and to theHeadwaters. After all

of that activity a spaghetti dinner, card games, sleep, and justa little

science talk were on the main agenda.

Back on campus later in the semester, the soup lunch was a hugesuccess.

Several different delicious soups were served in addition tosides, salads,

bread, and desserts. Many people from the department attendedand

$311.40 was raised, half of that was donated to TeachSMARTVolunteer

program. In April, the students were able to relax and socializebefore

finals at a game night pizza party. The semester ended with theplant sale

and a bake sale, both of which were a great success and a niceway to

head into summer. This was a great year for the Phytograds andwe are

all excited to concentrate on our research over the summer so weare ready for more fun events next year.

Research Highlights – Current Students Amy Dykstra recentlypresented a talk at the Midwest Ecology and Evolution

Conference in Ames, Iowa. The talk was entitled, ―No evidence oflocal

adaptation in seedling recruitment or seedling survival ofEchinacea

angustifolia.‖ Amy is gearing up for her third field season,studying purple

coneflower in western Minnesota and South Dakota. She sowedseeds into four

experimental plots in fall 2008; she will visit each site atleast twice during the

2010 season to census for survivors, and assess herbivory andgrowth of the

plants.

He Haung - Advisor: Bill Gray

Genetic analyses of novel COP9 signalosome (CSN) mutants suggestmultiple roles for the CSN in auxin signaling.

The COP9 signalosome (CSN) is an evolutionarily conservedmultisubunit protein complex that regulates a variety of

signaling and developmental processes. The only knownbiochemical activity of the CSN is an isopeptidase activitythat

cleaves the ubiquitin-like protein RUB/NEDD8 off of the cullinsubunits of cullin-based ubiquitin-ligases

(deneddylation). In the Arabidopsis auxin response pathway,

CSN deneddylase activity is required for optimal activity of

the SCFTIR1

complex: the ubiquitin-ligase responsible for

targeting Aux/IAA proteins for proteolysis in response to

auxin. In a genetic screen for enhancers of the tir1-1 auxin

response defect, we identified two recessive mutant allelesof

CSN1 and CSN3, designated as csn1-10 and csn3-3,

respectively. Although they both display similar auxin

response defects, RUB-modified CUL1 accumulates only in

the csn1-10 mutant, suggesting that the deneddylase activity ofthe CSN complex is unaffected by the csn3-3 mutation.

Genetic interactions between these CSN mutants and other auxinresponse mutants also suggest that csn1-10 and csn3-3

affect distinct aspects of CSN function. Additionally, theAux/IAA reporter protein AXR3NT-GUS is stabilized in csn1-

10 but not csn3-3 seedlings, indicating the SCFTIR1

activity is unaffected by the csn3-3 mutation. Thecontradiction

between the quantitatively similar auxin response defects ofcsn1-10 and csn3-3 but opposing effects of these two

mutations on SCFTIR1

suggest that the CSN plays a second role in addition to CUL1deneddylation in the auxin response

pathway.

Carrie Eberle - Advisors: Alan G. Smith and Neil O. Anderson

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the PBS graduate program,studying

reproductive plant biology. My thesis focuses on understandingreproductive

barriers between closely related species that regulate geneflow, fitness and seed set.

These prezygotic interspecific incompatibility interactionsoccur between the pollen

of one species and the pistil of another closely relatedspecies. Interspecific

incompatibility (II) effectively prevents hybridization andmaintains species. Our

lab developed a transgenic Nicotiana tabacum line that hasablated transmitting tract

cells, resulting in hollow styles. We have found that normallyII pollinations are

compatible with the ablated N. tabacum style, implicating thetransmitting tract in

the II interaction. I am using a biochemical approach toelucidate the transmitting

tract factors that are involved in II. A unique pollen tubegrowth assay using the

hollow style of the ablated line was developed to facilitate theidentification of the pistil factors involved in II.

Transmitting tract extracts are injected into the ablated styleprior to pollination and the pollen tube growth response to the

injection is measured. Using this approach I have identified theII factor as a protein, retained in a 50 Kda molecular

weight filter. I am currently using FPLC to identify theprotein(s) involved in II.

Xiaoqing Sun - Advisor: Carolyn Silflow

In green algae such as Chlamydomonas, hydrogenase enzymes in thephotosynthetic pathway

produce hydrogen under anaerobic conditions. Due to the highefficiency of these [Fe-Fe]

hydrogenases, algal systems could provide a source forbiohydrogen production. Studies

show that transcripts of the two hydrogenase genes (HYDA1 andHYDA2) are present at low

levels in aerobically grown cells but are induced underanaerobic conditions. To examine the

regulation of hydrogenase gene expression, I’m using reportergene constructs to assay the

activity of the promoter and 5’UTR regions of HYDA1 and HYDA2.The promoter and

5’UTR sequences of HYDA1 and HYDA2 were fused to the codingsequence of the PF14

gene, required for cell motility. When transformed into mutant(immotile) pf14 cells, the

pHYDA1::PF14 and pHYDA2::PF14 constructs produced a conditionalswimming phenotype inducible by hypoxia. The

results suggest that the HYDA gene expression is regulated atthe level of transcription and the promoter and 5’UTR

sequences contain elements required for hydrogenase gene torespond to anoxia. To identify genes affecting HYDA

expression, conditionally motile transformants were mutagenizedand constitutively motile strains were selected. One

mutant strain C5-4 was shown to contain a transposon insertionin HYDA2 5’UTR in the reporter gene construct, causing

the constitutive swimming phenotype probably by disruptingrepressive elements in the promoter and 5’UTR region. In

aerobic conditions, a few constitutive swimmer strains haveincreased expression of HYDA as compared to the original

transformants. This result shows that the mutations identifygenes in the pathway for regulating the expression of

hydrogenase genes. Cloning the genes identified by these mutantswill reveal components of the signaling pathway.

POLAR AUXIN TRANSPORT IS INCREASED BY LIGHT IN TOMATO ANDARABIDOPSIS HYPOCOTYLS

Xing Liu - Advisors: Jerry Cohen and Gary Gardner

As a fourth-year graduate student in the PBS program, I amcurrently focusing on the

light effects on the polar auxin transport (PAT) in hypocotyls.I have established a

PAT assay system with agar blocks and [3H]IAA, which providesvery low

background and high specific basipetal auxin transport, and hasbeen successfully

applied in both etiolated Arabidopsis and tomato hypocotyls. Ifound that PAT

increased in etiolated tomato hypocotyls to similar levels aftertreating the plants with

a 1-d cool white fluorescent light, or 1-h white light followedby 1-d darkness, or 1-h

blue or red light followed by 1-d darkness. This promotion inPAT was very sensitive

to low levels of blue light, and 20s of 5 μmol m-2 blue lightfollowed by 1-d darkness

leads to a significant increase of PAT. I also found that thispromotion of PAT was due

to a higher transport velocity, and was not altered in the bluelight photoreceptor cryptochrome 1 tomato mutant. On the

other hand, the content of free IAA in different tissue sectionswas not changed in plants with increased PAT compared

with the dark-grown control, indicating that some other IAAmetabolic pathways were activated to keep the IAA content

constant. This light-induced PAT has also been found inArabidopsis seedlings, and 2-d continuous white light, redlight

or blue light doubled the PAT in dark-grown Arabidopsishypocotyls. I am now using available photoreceptor mutants in

both tomato and Arabidopsis to identify the mechanism of thelight induced basipetal PAT. I will also perform finer free

auxin content mapping and auxin biosynthesis analysis indark-grown plants followed by light treatments, to reveal the

network among light signaling, auxin biosynthesis, and auxinre-distribution.

PBS Faculty Research

George's Jungle:

In an effort to save some of the planet's most critical habitat,Bell Museum Curator George Weiblen oversees an

international research station deep in Papua New Guinea'stropical forest

On May 23, Bell Museum Curator of Plants George Weiblen will besurrounded by heads of state from Papua New

Guinea, top executives of a transnational shipping company worthbillions —and 22,000 acres of the densest tropical

rainforest in the world.

As a leading scientist at the newly opened Swire Papua NewGuinea Research Station, a facility devoted to tropical forest

research, botanist Weiblen will be on hand to celebrate thecenter's grand opening, as well as a wonderland-like journey

eight years in the making.

Swire station is located in Papua New Guinea's Madang Province,a low-lying region known for its punishing humidity

and lush, tropical rainforests. Third in size only to the Amazonand Congo's, Papua New Guinea rainforests make up less

than one half of one percent of the Earth's land mass, but arehome to more than five percent of the world's plant and

animal diversity.

The research station, located in a 22,000-acre forest, is afour-hour hike from the nearest road. It's only a brief walkfrom

the research station to Weiblen's research plot where he and hisresearch students began to map, measure and identify

some 250,000 trees in a 125-acre plot of jungle just lastyear.

Weiblen's research is part of a global network of rainforeststudies coordinated by Harvard University's Center for

Tropical Forest Science (CTFS). The center provides a long-termscientific framework for monitoring the effects of

climate change through a series of forest plots across theglobe. "Trees are perfect climate-monitoring stations," says

Weiblen. "They don't move and their growth and health areaffected by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as well as other

variables like rain, sun and temperature."

Like many forests in undeveloped countries, New Guinea’stropical forests are in the crosshairs of international logging

companies. The majority of the country's trees are maturehardwoods of a uniform size—highly prized on the international

market and quick work for experts in tree removal.

One of the most diverse countries in the world in terms ofpeople and languages, Papua New Guinea is a tribal society

with indigenous clans claiming ownership of the land. Members ofthe Wanang clans watched their neighbors sell logging

rights to the forests in exchange for a devastated landscape,small royalties and temporary roads. Wanang leaders

approached Weiblen and colleagues, who were doing ecologicalresearch in the area, with an idea of renting the forest to

researchers—instead of instead of exporting raw logs for cashwhy not import jobs to the community through field

research?

With financial support from CTFS, the National ScienceFoundation and John Swire & Sons Ltd., a British-based

international shipping company, Weiblen presented tribal leaderswith a plan—long-term access to the forest in exchange

for on-site education, health care, and local employmentopportunities. Despite cultural challenges, land disputes,

language barriers (Weiblen speaks Melanesian

pidgin), and financial pressures, the new research

station is officially open for business.

"Forest conservation on indigenous lands is a

tricky proposition— one that hasn't been

perfected by anyone," says Weiblen. As the

project's go-to guy with a 25 person staff,

Weiblen often receives urgent satellite phone

calls from Wanang in the middle of the night at

his home in Saint Paul. And Weiblen is still in a

race against time as development threatens to

extinguish New Guinea biodiversity before it can

be recorded or protected.

Weiblen has led an effort to designate forest

reserves in lowland logging areas by founding the station, theforest plot, and a surrounding protected area. "I suppose it's

Lutheran guilt that compels me to give something back to Wanangafter all we’ve discovered there," said Weiblen. He's

confident that the Papua New Guinea experiment has enriched thelives of students, researchers and local people. He's less

sure about whether what he's done to help protect thebiodiversity will stick; "the biologist in me is content, butthe

environmentalist in me isn't at peace yet."

Alumni: Please let us know if you change positions, so we cankeep the alumni database current. If you would like to be includedin the next PBS Medium, email a short description of your currentposition (including pics) to [emailprotected]

A Word from our Alumni

Yadong "Adam" Huang

Ph.D. degree, October 2008

Sue Gibson, Advisor

―I graduated from the PBS program in 2008. Currently I amworking as a

postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Myproject aims to

understand the metabolic regulation of storage compoundaccumulation in

oilseeds at the posttranslational level. A massspectrometry-based method has

been developed to indentify putative kinase substrates (Huang etal., A

quantitative mass spectrometry-based approach for identifyingprotein kinase

clients and quantifying kinase activity, Analytical Biochemistryin press) and

applied to oilseeds phosphoproteomics studies. Besides science,I enjoy fun time

with my little girl!”

Nelson Garcia

Masters Plan A, October 2008

Ron Phillips, Advisor

Senior Researcher

Research involvement:

1) Use of japonica and wild rice to widen genetic diversity ofhybrid rice parental

lines

2) Breeding hybrid rice parental lines with resistance tobacterial blight using

marker-assisted selection

3) Development of beta-carotene rich rice varieties throughmarker-assisted breeding using Golden Rice 2

4) Induced mutagenesis for developing herbicide-tolerantrice.‖

PBS 6th Annual Retreat

The PBS annual retreat was held on Monday, May 17, at the ComoPark Visitor Center. Guest speakers were

Dr. Andrew Baumgarten, a Research Scientist at Pioneer Hi-bredInt’l and Dr. Nathan Springer, Associate Professor,

in the Plant Biology Department at the University of Minnesota,both of whom are PBS alumni. PBS students gave

research talks and also participated in a poster session.

Editors: Jane Glazebrook, Gail Kalli & Leigh Severson.

Questions or comments contact Gail Kalli at [emailprotected]