Federal Agencies to Coordinate Research of Plant Genomics to Meet Future Energy Needs

News Date January 20, 2006

          This week USDA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signed an agreement that sets forth a framework to share resources and coordinate the study of plant and microbial genomics. As part of the agreement, the DOE will tackle the sequencing of the soybean genome as the first project resulting from the agreement. "This agreement demonstrates a joint commitment to support high-quality genomics research and integrated projects to meet the nation's agriculture and energy challenges," said Dr. Colien Hefferan, administrator of USDA's Cooperative State Research, Extension and Economics Service (CSREES), who signed the agreement for USDA.
          "Both agencies will leverage their expertise and synergize activities involving agricultural and energy-related plants and microbes," said Dr. Ari Patrinos, Department of Energy associate director of science for biological and environmental research. USDA and DOE will cooperate and coordinate agency-relevant plant and microbial genome sequencing and bioinformatics that can serve the needs of the broader scientific community and solve problems that are important to each agency's mission. This agreement could help speed the deployment of emerging technologies, such as improved methods of gene identification and sequence assembly.
          The DOE Joint Genome Institute will sequence the genome (decode the DNA) of the soybean, Glycine max, the world's most valuable legume crop. Soybean is of particular interest to DOE because it is the principal source of biodiesel, a renewable, alternative fuel. Biodiesel has the highest energy content of any alternative fuel and is significantly more environmentally friendly than comparable petroleum-based fuels, since it degrades rapidly in the environment. It also burns more cleanly than conventional fuels, releasing only half of the pollutants and reducing the production of carcinogenic compounds by more than 80 percent. Over 3.1 billion bushels of soybeans were grown in this country on nearly 75 million acres in 2004, with an estimated annual value exceeding $17 billion, second only to corn and approximately twice that of wheat. The full news release can be located at http://www.doe.gov/news/2979.htm. (Contact: Jennifer Yezak)