Members of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) recently received research awards as part of the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP). Included in receiving the awards is ASPB member Harry J. Klee of the University of Florida, who, in association with co-principal investigators James J. Giovannoni (Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research/USDA Agricultural Research Service Robert W. Holley Research Center for Agriculture and Health), Denise Tieman (University of Florida), Zhangjun Fei (Boyce Thompson/USDA-ARS) and other collaborators, are seeking to identify networks regulating the synthesis of flavor and nutrition compounds in solanaceae, which includes tomato. The team is focusing on the pathways for the synthesis of folic acid, carotenoids, and a set of flavor and fragrance compounds.
The PGRP, which was established in 1998 as part of the National Plant Genome Initiative, is coordinated by an Interagency Working Group on Plant Genomes of the National Science and Technology Council. A total of $101.9 million was awarded under this announcement.
