Researchers Map Corn Plant's Genome

Scientists at universities and corporations are about to get a major leg up in their tireless — and profitable — effort to reinvent the corn plant. A group of researchers led by Washington University in St. Louis have mapped out the corn plant's massive genome, and is posting the research on the Internet.

The project's leader said the sequence map is the holy grail for scientists trying to improve a crop that is traded globally for food, animal feed and fuel.

There is still some clean-up work left to be done to the corn genome sequence, though it is essentially completed, said Richard Wilson, director of Washington University's Genome Sequencing Center. The genome will be publicly announced Thursday at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference in Washington D.C.

Corn production underpins much of the U.S. and global food supply, providing feed for livestock and ingredients for processed foods that run the gamut from wheat bread to soft drinks. A burgeoning demand for corn-based ethanol fuel has driven the price up, and put greater pressure on farmers to grow more corn per acre.

Agribusiness corporations like Monsanto Co. are tweaking the corn genome to increase the plant's productivity. Monsanto's Chief Technology Officer Robert Fraley said having access to the corn genome will push research forward by helping university researchers discover new corn traits. Companies like Monsanto will then be able to license those discoveries for new products, he said.

The sequence "is going to ultimately be one of the breakthroughs that contributes to drive corn yield in the future," Fraley said.

Corn is only one of a handful of plants to have its genome sequenced, Wilson said, including rice and a flowering plant popular for genetic research called Arabidopsis.

The $29.5 million corn genome project was funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. Fraley said Monsanto contributed gene-mapping technology and some of its own gene maps to the effort.

The benefit for farmers will come from new lines of corn that withstand environmental stress and produce more yield, said Nathan Fields, director of technology and business development with the National Corn Growers' Association.

Wilson said a key field of research will be discovering which genes in the sequence lead to which specific traits in a stalk of corn.

"That's what we still have to learn," he said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional negotiations over multibillion-dollar farm legislation are closing in on a March deadline as some members of Congress are tempering expectations back home.

Members of the House and Senate have spent some of the congressional recess haggling over the details of the five-year, $286 billion bills passed by the House and Senate last year. The legislation would expand and extend farm and nutrition programs.

But talks are still at an impasse as the Bush administration threatens to veto the bills, saying they are too expensive and pay too many subsidies to wealthy farmers.

Current law has been extended to March 15, when it will expire. After that, Congress must again extend current law or it will revert to permanent law last updated in 1949. That could be devastating for many farm industries.

North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat who is one of the senators negotiating the bill, said talks have been tough as lawmakers look for enough dollars to distribute to different parts of the farm economy. There was more federal money to go around in 2002, when the last farm bill was written.

"There is work being done on the framework of an agreement," Conrad said. But all sides have not yet signed off on a plan.

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