Plant genetics grant goes to VU prof

VALPARAISO | A Valparaiso University plant biologist has won a $167,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate with undergraduate students the genetic origins of plant species.

It's a project that may yield substantial benefits for the agricultural industry.

Biology professor Rob Swanson said the grant will fund a series of genetic studies he began at VU two years ago on Arabidopsis -- a flowering weed commonly known as thalecress or mouse ear cress and found throughout most of the continental United States.

"We are defining the genetic basis for the way plants mate with one another," Swanson said. "Not many sexual organisms mate randomly -- humans certainly don't -- and neither do plants."

Swanson said understanding the genetic basis for why different groups of plants choose to mate or not mate with one another provides insight into how new species of plants form.

"In practical terms, fully understanding the process of plant fertilization, how it operates and how it evolves over time, is necessary for the intelligent manipulation of this process in agriculture," Swanson said.

In 2005, Swanson and colleagues at three other institutions won a $1.7 million National Science Foundation grant to study the genes used to construct the weed's pollen grains as a step toward increasing crop yields. Now, his research will focus on the plant mating process.

"Some pollen have greater mating success -- a phenomenon called nonrandom mating, which has striking evolutionary significance in organisms across kingdoms," Swanson said. "The genetics of nonrandom mating in flowering plants, however, is less well understood."

The research funding will support VU's overall science research and teaching infrastructure and help fulfill a national demand for college graduates prepared for science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.