MAES News
January 5, 2004
- Message of Appreciation from MAES Director J. Ian Gray
- MAES Scientist Sheds New Light on Evolution
- MAES Scientist Receives MEDC Grant
- Ag Engineering Chair Honored
- KBS Scientists Receive USDA Water Quality Grant
After it was announced that Gov. Granholm was considering eliminating the state budget for the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and MSU Extension, we received overwhelming support from a large number of people representing diverse program interests throughout the state.
I would like to thank everyone who took the time to contact his or her legislator or the governor’s office directly. This grassroots stakeholder support carried the message loud and clear to all our elected officials. The MAES appreciates that the people we serve – the citizens of Michigan -- recognized the value of our programs and spoke out, and that our governor and the legislature listened and responded in such a positive way.
Michigan has not yet realized the economic turnaround that other parts of the nation are experiencing. In less than a month, the governor and legislature will begin the 2004-05 budget process. Our message continues to be that MAES research on food safety, nutrition, water quality, environmental remediation, forestry, children and communities, tourism, animal health, and production agriculture is vital to the health and well-being of Michigan and its citizens.
Again, thank you for your support. If you have questions about any MAES programs, please contact my office at 517-355-0123.
J. Ian Gray
Director, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station
MAES Scientist Sheds New Light on Evolution
For
more than a century, scientists have concluded that a species evolves
or adapts by going through an infinite number of small genetic changes
over a long period of time.
However, a team of researchers, including an MAES horticulture researcher, has provided new evidence that an alternate theory is actually at work, one in which the process begins with several large mutations before settling down into a series of smaller ones.
The research was published in a recent issue of the journal Nature.
“The question is asked, ‘If a population finds itself in some maladaptive state, due perhaps to a change in climate, how will it adapt?’” said Douglas Schemske, MAES horticulture researcher and Hannah Professor of plant biology, who is a member of the research team. “The evidence that has come to light recently -- both in plants and other organisms -- is that the initial changes are bigger than we might have expected.”
To study the question, Schemske and his colleagues used a common plant called the monkeyflower, changing its genetic makeup in a rather dramatic way to see if it would attract new pollinators – hummingbirds instead of bees or vice versa.
By moving a small piece of the genome between two different species of the plants -- the pink-flowered M. lewisii and the red-flowered M. cardinalis -- the researchers created different colored flowers that attracted new pollinators.
“We discovered that moving this single genetic region caused a dramatic increase in visitation by a ‘new’ pollinator,” Schemske said. “Specifically, the orange flowers produced on the previously pink flowered and bee-pollinated M. lewisii were regularly visited by hummingbirds but shunned by bees.
“Also, the pink flowers of the previously hummingbird-pollinated M. cardinalis were attractive to both bees and hummingbirds,” he said.
Schemske and H.D. “Toby” Bradshaw, a professor of biology at the University of Washington and the lead author of the paper that appeared in Nature, said altering the genetic region responsible for the flowers’ color is much like what could happen during a naturally occurring mutation.
“Perhaps a single mutation having to do with color changed the pollinator milieu back when there was only a single species,” Bradshaw said. “That one big evolutionary step may then have been followed by many smaller steps triggered by pollinator preferences that led ultimately to different species.”
The plants used in the work were produced in a campus greenhouse and then transported to an area near the Yosemite National Park where natural populations of both species occur.
“This was a rather unique aspect of the work,” Schemske said, “in that it combined molecular genetic techniques and ecological observations to elucidate the process of adaptation in natural populations.”
The work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
MAES Scientist Receives MEDC Grant
MSU received a $1.7 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) for continued funding of the Michigan Center for Structural Biology. Under the direction of Jack Preiss, MAES biochemistry and molecular biology scientist, the center studies protein structure and function at many levels to understand how specific proteins work.
Ajit K. Srivastava, chairperson of the Department of Agricultural Engineering, has been honored with the Dennis Fenton Graduate Alumni Award from the Cook College Alumni Association at Rutgers University. The award is given to alumni for outstanding accomplishments in his or her professional, civic or volunteer work, which reflects the dignity and distinction on Cook College at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He received the award based upon his exemplary professional career in the area of machinery systems for food production and processing.
KBS Scientists Receive USDA Water Quality Grant
Scientists at Kellogg Biological Station (KBS), one of 15 MAES field research stations in Michigan, received one of 22 USDA water quality grants in December.
"These grants will not only help us to better understand rural water quality issues, but they will also assist USDA in developing implementation guidelines for rural areas," said Mark Rey, agriculture undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment.
The three-year $485,000 grant will be used to reduce the amount of phosphorus entering the Kalamazoo River watershed through research and education.
The Kalamazoo River has a legacy of serious industrial and nutrient pollution. One major water quality problem is phosphorus enrichment of Lake Allegan, located 21 river miles upstream of Lake Michigan. A total maximum daily load (TMDL) was developed for phosphorus requiring a 50 percent seasonal non-point source reduction.
The scientists, led by Dean Solomon, MSU Extension district natural resources agent, will use a variety of techniques to help meet the TMDL, including accurately measuring the daily phosphorus loading in the Lake Allegan/Kalamazoo River waterway, identifying and quantifying nonpoint source phosphorus contributors, creating a volunteer monitoring program and establishing a sustainable, watershedwide community organization.
