Department News
New UK Study Could Help Fight Food Insecurity

The world population is rapidly increasing and achieving more food with less input is essential. We found that manipulations of cytoskeleton dynamics in the endosperm can enlarge the seed size in A. thaliana, a model plant for molecular and cellular biology. By applying the same concept to grain crops such as soybean, wheat, maize and rice, we might be able to increase the grain yield. Therefore, this new discovery should enable greater food security. We found that cellular structural components called cytoskeletons show unique dynamics during endosperm development and also found that one of the cytoskeletons, called actin filament, involves in seed size determination. We believe that if we can increase the size of grain crop seeds by manipulating actin filament dynamics in the endosperm, we could go a long way to reducing food insecurity.
-Tomo Kawashima
The 2023 IPSS Symposium was held on January 6th at the Don and Cathy Jacobs Science Building

David Van Sanford, David McNear, and Rebecca McGrail were highlighted on MDPI's Twitter Page as a Highly Cited Paper.
UK Researchers Finding Ways to Make Crops more Prolific, Saving Farmers Money

Congratulations to Anthony Clark (left) and Suzette Walling (right) on receiving the Dr. Lisa P. Collins 2022 Outstanding Staff Award. Pictured with Lisa Collins (left) and Dean Cox (right).
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February 15, 2023
Pictured above from left to right: Dr. Humberto Blanco and Dr. Rebecca McCulley
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February 15, 2023
The 2023 IPSS Symposium was held on January 6th at the Don and Cathy Jacobs Science Building
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February 15, 2023
The world population is rapidly increasing and achieving more food with less input is essential. We found that manipulations of cytoskeleton dynamics in the endosperm can enlarge the seed size in A. thaliana, a model plant for molecular and cellular biology. By applying the same concept to grain crops such as soybean, wheat, maize and rice, we might be able to increase the grain yield. Therefore, this new discovery should enable greater food security.