June 6, 1997
MOLECULAR SCIENCE HELPING TODAY'S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER
Writer: Pam Dillard, (806) 359-5401, [email protected]
Contact: Charles Rush, (806) 354-5804, [email protected]
BUSHLAND--When a farmer looks at a clump of good Panhandle soil, what's in the dirt isn't readily evident to the eye, says Dr. Charles Rush, pathologist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station here.
For Rush, the action starts at the molecular level where particulate matter and life forms include the pathogens which cause disease. And, for area sugar beet growers, diseases in that mix can have devastating consequences to yield, and profits.
First, there is the beet necrotic yellow vein virus called, BNYVV, for short, that causes an extremely severe disease of sugar beets called rhizomania. Another one may be present, according to Rush, called beet soil borne mosaic virus, or BSBMV.
"It's similar to the first virus but causes no obvious damage and doesn't reduce root or sugar yields," the scientist added.
Rush's lab, located at the Experiment Station's facility at Bushland, may first seem far removed from areas where "cutting edge science" occurs. However, basic or classical research using sophisticated technology is often done by scientists working closely with the practical side of their work.
For this researcher, he needs only to step outside the four walls of his primary lab into an agricultural setting where soil and crop samples are gathered. Rush and his research group, which includes graduate students, often go directly to producers' fields where disease is evident.
"Our molecular studies are aimed at the reasons why the beet necrotic yellow vein strain is able to cause such severe disease, while most forms of the beet mosaic virus are essentially harmless," Rush said. "Collections of the virus that differ in the symptoms caused to sugar beets have been gathered."
"We use molecular techniques to study the living genome, which is the unique genetic makeup of the virus," he said. "By determining the order of the individual building blocks or nucleotide sequence making up the virus, we can compare the arrangement of mosaic virus to BNYVV and hopefully identify specific areas that are responsible for disease development."
"Results from these studies should help breeders develop disease- tolerant germplasm and may also shed light on the way in which disease- causing viruses evolve."
"Another product of this research is the new knowledge of the nucleotide sequence of the different viruses; we will be able to develop diagnostic techniques that will be highly specific and very sensitive," Rush added.
"We're confident the ability to detect and differentiate the viruses early on, when the virus concentration in the plant is very low, will make a difference," he continued. "Only then will we have the tools to enable producers to make management decisions to lessen disease loss and maximize yield potential."
"We want our local farmers to know we are using all of the tools that modern science has made available to us, including molecular techniques," he added. "Our chief goal is to reduce disease losses and help improve their profit margins."
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