When most people think of potatoes, the word research does not usually follow. But with their Mr. Potato head mascot watching over the lab, the University of Nevada Reno's plant biology tag team, Dylan Kosma and Patricia Santos, are searching for ways to reduce potato crop losses during storage.

The University's Kosma-Santos lab, in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, was recently awarded a $1.37 grant by the National Science Foundation to investigate the molecular-genetics and biochemistry that underlies potato crop losses during tuber storage. As the number one vegetable crop in the United States and a top five crop for the state of Nevada, potato crop losses can be economically devastating to farmers and the potato industry as a whole. A large proportion of these crop losses are due to factors such as rapid water loss and disease while in storage.

In 2013, approximately 33 percent of the U.S. crop was lost, which equated to $1.2 billion in lost profits for farmers. Kosma, assistant biochemistry professor, and Santos, assistant research professor, are focusing their research on reducing this number.

"Even a 5 percent reduction in potato losses during storage would improve the economic return for the producers and the potato industry by $170 million," Kosma said.

The research delves into comprehending how different potato varieties can have different storage lives. They are using one variety that stores very well and another that stores very poorly to understand the molecular basis of this differential storage capacity. From a basic science perspective, no one has yet figured this out.

Specifically, Kosma is interested in the corky lipid polymer that comprises a large proportion of the skin. This polymer is referred to as "suberin." Suberin can be found in nearly every plant, and although it is widespread, there is still little known about its makeup and function.

Kosma and Santos want people to know that potatoes do not just go straight from the field to the store. Potatoes are grown and harvested in the fall and kept in cold storage until sold and distributed. The problem occurs when potatoes are not stored properly, which then impacts profits.

When potatoes are harvested in the field, they tend to get damaged and form "scabs" or wound periderm that prevent the sugars and water from coming out and also keeps bacteria and fungi from getting in. This wound-healing tissue is made up of suberin. These are the rough raises we tend to see on potatoes from the supermarket. It is important for potatoes to form this wound-repairing tissue to prolong storage life.

The idea of this research is to ultimately improve how potatoes heal with this wound suberin deposition and how to, in turn, improve their lasting storability.

A native of Illinois, Kosma showed an interest in plant biology from a young age. Although he jokes that he was not tremendously influenced by potatoes growing up, he always enjoyed going outside to forage wild foods and plants for both fun and to satisfy his general curiosity about the natural world. He received both his bachelors and master's degrees in plant biology from Southern Illinois University, and furthered his education at Purdue University, where he received his doctorate degree. His post-doctorate work led him to Michigan State University where he met Santos, his wife and research partner. Santos, an assistant research professor, has an emphasis in plant pathology with specific interests in plant-microbe interactions.

Both are interested in plant stress tolerance in relation to the environment, and found that Nevada well suited those research interests. They have been a part of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno for two years, having moved here in January 2015.

The two are extremely passionate about their work, and this project is something that had been stewing in Kosma's thoughts well before their move to Nevada.

"In Michigan, two years prior to moving here Dylan was already talking about writing a project about potatoes and how cool it would be," Santos said.

Since then, their research team has grown to include: Professor Karen Sclauch, who specializes in bioinformatics at the University; Professor Dave Douches, a potato breeder out of Michigan State University; and Professor Ray Hammerschmidt, a plant pathologist also from Michigan State. They have one graduate student and numerous undergraduates working with them in their lab.

The $1.37 million National Science Foundation grant will keep this research going for the next four years.

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Studying genetics of potatoes - Nevada Appeal

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Genetics Underlying Rare Syndrome Identified - Medscape

When it comes to knowing what bull buyers want, the Aschermanns have made it their business to be ahead of the game.

At Aschermann Charolais in Carthage, Missouri, the goal is to help commercial cattlemen raise better feeder calves by raising bulls with a reputation for calving ease, good disposition, sound feet and legs, and fescue tolerance. Both Larry and his wife, Peggy, have worked to build that reputation by using their experiences in the cattle business.

Her history is really in cattle and wheat so she provides good insight into the cattle operation about things we need to be aware of for our customers, Larry said, explaining Peggys family raised Herefords and wheat for generations in Kansas. I was born on a grain farm in Illinois and we raised hogs.

During his 4-H years, his great uncle gave him two heifers on shares Larry fed them and they split the money when they were sold and he was hooked. At the age of 13, he began to borrow money and buy cattle.

Theres nothing I like better than watching a cow have a baby calf, he said with a smile.

After attending Kansas State University and showing cattle for people to put himself through school, Larry worked as a fieldman for the American Shorthorn Association and was the first executive secretary for the American Maine-Anjou Association. He went back to Illinois and farmed for a period but quickly learned grain farming was not where his heart was. He took a position at a Monsanto subsidiary called Farmers Hybrids and worked on a program, which was developing eight proprietary composite lines of cattle for a rotational crossbreeding system.

But during that time, I became infatuated with southwest Missouri, Larry said, adding they bought an existing livestock facility and moved to the area.

Under their direction, the Four State Stockyards in Diamond grew to be one of the top livestock markets in the state. It also provided Larry with the unique perspective of seeing what worked for commercial cattlemen and what didnt.

In 1980, the area had a mixed bag of genetically diverse cows, Larry said. Later, I saw my good producers go to Angus bulls to clean up their cowherds or make them more functional.

When it came time to sell the stockyards and reenter the purebred business, he narrowed his breed choices down to Charolais. He chose the breed because Charolais-Angus cross cattle were and still are desired by feedlots and packers, he explained.

I saw a chance to moderate Charolais to where they were functional in the commercial cattle business in this part of the world and, at the same time, provide more growth and hybrid vigor, he explained, adding his confidence in crossbreeding and hybrid vigor really cemented his decision to go with Charolais cattle.

I took the breed and started modernizing them for lack of a better term through moderation, he continued. In the process, the show ring started picking the kind of cattle we were raising so we had great success in the show ring.

During the 15 years they had the stockyards, they saw the difference genetics makes in the prices received for calves due to disposition, growth or hair color.

Larry spends a lot of time on genetics, Peggy said with obvious pride in her husband. I may not have a lot of experience with geneticists but its amazing to me how he can figure out today what the cattle market is going to want and need in the future. And, truthfully, sometimes hes a little ahead of everybody else. He really is. It takes them a few years to catch up with him. But Ive never known him to be wrong, and its amazing how good he is at genetics.

Larry added tweaking the breeding and genetics of their cattle has been a long-term project. Breeding decisions today have to be what customers need years in the future when the animals are actually sold.

They have two to three generations of calving ease built into their cowherd. At the same time, they take pelvic measurements into consideration as well as calving ease. This keeps cow size in check and keeps calving ease consistent in the herd, Larry explained.

Weve worked on calving ease from the sire side but weve also done it from the cow side, he added, emphasizing they have worked diligently to develop cattle that will perform consistently for their customers.

EPDs such as calving ease and birth weight are only one of the tools they use to make breeding decisions.

A lot of the things we select for there are no EPDs, Larry said, emphasizing their focus on foot and leg soundness, fescue tolerance and eye appeal. When youre producing feeder calves that go into the sale ring and the order buyer has a minute to decide breed composition, body condition, whether they look like theyre going to feed good or not, they have to make snap decisions. So, you provide them with cattle that look the part, act the part, have the color, and have the growth.

Peggy added, Disposition is big. If Im out there by myself, I dont want to get run over by a bull.

At Aschermann Charolais, they do not spend much time trying to improve their fescue pastures but instead focus on animals that can handle the often-unimproved fescue pastures where they are expected to perform.

We dont shy away from fescue hay or pasture, Larry said. We almost insist that we grow our bulls on fescue so they are ready to go.

In addition to developing reputable lines of Charolais bulls, they have also branched out and experimented with Charolais-hybrid bulls.

Purebred breeders are, in general, innovators and tinkerers to try and make the product better, he said. We added Red Angus-Charolais crosses to our breeding program and, about five or six years ago, we started experimenting with a breed of cattle from Japan.

The introduction of purebred red Charolais, Red Angus-Charolais crosses and Akaushi crosses have allowed them to expand their offerings to commercial cattlemen who may want black calves, calves with the potential to grade Prime, or just composite bulls.

You have to have years of experience, know what your customers want, and provide what theyll pay for and what will improve their feeder calf production, he emphasized.

We try to respond to what our customers want but, right now, we think we have what they need, the cattleman continued. We try to be a one-stop shop. If you do not want a purebred Charolais, weve got some composites.

For cattlemen wanting to improve their operations, he recommended looking at their bulls.

A bulls half your herd, he said. You can have about any cow but youve got to have good bulls if youre serious about making money.

And the Aschermanns are doing their best to help those producers.

Our main business is Charolais, but we continue to try to achieve our goals of easy calving, good-footed bulls that thrive in the Four State area on the grasses that we have.

Weve bred trait leaders for the breed, he continued. Weve owned and bred cattle that win purple ribbons but our main focus is just on folks that want to raise better feeder calves.

The Aschermanns are believers in the auction system and sell bulls twice a year in sales at the ranch. Occasionally, they have their herd built up enough for a female sale but that typically doesnt take place on a regular basis.

We dont sell any bulls private treaty, he said. If youre going to come to our bull sale and buy a bull, you really dont want to buy something thats been picked over. Youd like to have the opportunity to buy the best one weve got. You may decide not to buy it but I feel like were obliged to give you the opportunity to buy the very best one.

With no private treaty sales, the semi-annual sales help them cater to customers who may have bull needs more than once a year. Bulls average 18 months in age at the sales.

The Aschermann Charolais 24th Edition Bull Sale is scheduled for March 18 at the ranch at 3852 County Road 110, Carthage, Missouri. To view the catalog or for more information, visit http://www.AschermannCharolais.com.

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Breeder focuses on genetics with goal of improving customers' feeder calves - Farm Talk

Two researchers from a UCLA clinical site explained the genetic approach to diagnosing rare diseases to about 50 UCLA students and faculty members Monday.

In honor of Rare Disease Day, Stanley Nelson and Christina Palmer, principal investigators of a UCLA clinical site, discussed how UCLA participates in the Undiagnosed Diseases Network. UCLA is one of seven clinical sites in the UDN, a network of researchers who study rare diseases and introduce further research possibilities based on a team science approach.

Team science is a collaborative research approach that is based on the overall contribution of the network, which includes clinicians, scientists, genetic counselors and other experts, Palmer said. For example, clinical sites such as UCLA provide patient evaluations while other sites act as laboratory cores that provide DNA sequencing.

Under the UDN, UCLA has worked with 63 patients with rare diseases. The network approach allows patients and physicians to seek out other individuals within the network who may be working with the same disease, Nelson said.

Lab investigations can also address a broad spectrum of rare diseases and increase the speed of testing for disease-specific concerns, Nelson said.

Palmer said patients must go through a comprehensive application process to be evaluated by the UDN. Each patient has to demonstrate that their rare disease has gone through extensive prior evaluation and submit other medical information.

Palmer added some diseases the UCLA researchers study include neurological diseases.

Nelson said the UDN uses genome sequencing in their research, which is done at UCLA prior to clinical evaluation. Sequencing patients DNA before evaluating them can present ethical limitations.

This can overwhelm patients with variants that might not be clinically relevant, Palmer said. There exists a potential for unnecessary tests and possible risks with related procedures, (and) patients wait longer for clinical visit.

Researchers gather phenotypes physical characteristics of participants from medical records, not in-person evaluations, Nelson said. Unlike other disorder researchers, who group patients with similar characteristics, UCLA researchers do not intentionally gather patients with similar phenotypes.

Palmer said clinical evaluations start after genome sequencing. Evaluations take one to five days and may include consultations with specialists and other medical tests.

As a clinical site, UCLA does not focus on treatment or symptom management of rare diseases, Nelson said. Although UCLA researchers aim to diagnose patients, doing so is difficult and not necessarily included in the patient follow-up.

About 70 percent of the patients UCLA is working with are children. Researchers have diagnosed five of 35 completed cases.

Siena Salgado, a third-year human biology and society student who attended the talk, said she had previously studied the sociological impacts of the UDNs structure. She said she was interested in the possible ethical implications of the UDNs genetic-based approach.

Michael Gorin, an ophthalmology and human genetics professor who attended the event, said he thinks the UDN becomes a compensatory process that catches up to other countries with health care systems that already have vested interests in genetic diseases.

The psychological benefit for patients to know why they have a disease is powerful, Gorin said. To be able to tell someone we know what genetic variance is causing this disease, even if we cant treat it removes guilt, uncertainty (and) gives people hope.

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UCLA researchers describe methods for diagnosing diseases using genetics - Daily Bruin

Intensive selective breeding over the past 200 years and high extinction rates among feral populations has greatly reduced the genetic diversity present in domestic goat breeds. The effect these pressures have had on Irish and British goat populations has been explored in a landmark DNA study that compared modern-day domestic and feral goats with museum specimens from years gone by.

A collaborative team led by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin compared the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 15 historical taxidermy specimens from Britain and Ireland and nine modern samples taken from Irish dairy and feral populations.

The team has just published their results in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Their work provides the first example in which DNA from taxidermy specimens is used to answer questions about livestock genetics.

Lara Cassidy, a researcher from Trinity's School of Genetics and Microbiology, is the first author of the journal article. She said: "There is an amazing wealth of genetic information locked away in taxidermic collections of animals that were -- and still are -- important for agricultural reasons. As such these collections are invaluable in helping us study the population history of these domesticated animals."

"Studying these specimens and comparing them with modern-day animals also helps to pinpoint existing populations that have retained some of the past genetic diversity, much of which has been lost to industrialized breeding. Retaining this diversity as an option for future breeding is very important, but some of these populations are being pushed to extinction."

The geneticists' study highlights an endangered feral herd living in Mulranny, Co. Mayo, as one such unique population in need of protection. Mulranny goats show a genetic similarity to extinct 'Old Goat' populations that lived on the Isle of Skye in the 1800s. They can therefore be considered among the last remaining 'Old Irish' goats.

The 'Old Goat' populations of Britain and Ireland were once ubiquitous throughout the islands but today have been replaced in agriculture by improved Swiss breeds. The native 'Old Goats' are now only found in small feral herds, whose existence is under constant threat from habitat loss, culling and the ongoing impact of Swiss introgression.

The geneticists sampled a number of different 'Old Goat' herds among the 15 taxidermy specimens. The results showed these goats formed two genetic groupings, distinct from other European breeds. Importantly, all of the modern-day Irish dairy goats fell into a genetic groupings outside these two.

Dr Valeria Mattiangeli, one of the study's lead researchers, said: "This highlights the impact that transportation and mass importation of continental breeds has had on Ireland's goat populations, and underlines how selective breeding for agricultural purposes can impact the genetic diversity of animals."

Sen Carolan of the Old Irish Goat Society, who is a co-author of the journal article, said: "We hope this study will play a key role in saving what was and still is a diminutive creature that is both resilient and charismatic and that represents our cultural and pastoral history."

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Materials provided by Trinity College Dublin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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DNA from taxidermy specimens explains genetic structure of British and Irish goats - Science Daily

Genetic testing has many touted future benefits - but are any of them coming to fruition?

Worldwide, at least US$3 billion is spent every year on genetics research, with half coming from governments. Yet less than 3% of this is spent on research addressing how to incorporate genetics into medical practice, and even less is spent applying genetics to the prevention of disease.

Right now, optimism about the potential of genetics is high. Breakthroughs in genetics are reported with enthusiasm, and genetics research continues to comprise a large proportion of all funded research. Funding is often awarded because researchers claim once we understand the genetic components of a disease like cancer, we will be able to better predict, prevent, and even cure disease. Future cures are often reported long before theyre available.

However, some scientists and medical specialists are starting to question whether the money invested in genetic research is well spent. Are we getting the promised benefits from this investment?

Heres an example in which genetic testing applies. Once a person is found to have a hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome, usually after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, all members of the family can be offered genetic testing for the particular genetic mutation found in the person with cancer.

Family members found positive can then be screened more intensively to prevent future colorectal cancers. Those found not to carry the mutation will not need intensive screening, despite the family history. Research on how this works in practice has found that only about half (56%) of nearly 2,000 eligible family members underwent testing. Those untested were also less likely (compared to those tested) to undergo other forms of screening for colorectal cancer.

We know that for most people who have predictive genetic testing, the process is psychologically beneficial and improves their risk perception. But we know less about the attitudes of people in the community, outside of academic institutions and specialist clinics, who are not having testing. Along with colleagues at the University of Melbourne, I study how genetic testing is received in Australia.

We have previously found only 56% of 862 people offered predictive genetic testing for hereditary colorectal cancer as part of their participation in a research study actually went ahead with a test, and received their results. Earlier, we found similarly low rates of uptake for hereditary breast cancer.

We recently published the results of a study that explored the reasons these people declined genetic testing.

We interviewed 33 men and women who declined the offer of genetic testing and found they were at one of four stages in the process of declining genetic testing:

1) uninformed

2) weak intention

3) conditionally declining

4) unconditionally declining.

Four were considered uninformed because they had not understood the offer, so were not in a position to make a decision. Nine described a weak intention to have genetic testing. They knew there was a test available, and they understood some aspects of it, but they were putting off going ahead with the test because they were not convinced the benefits would outweigh the risks.

Another nine participants were conditionally declining testing, as they had decided not to pursue testing now, but felt they may change their minds in the future. Their reasons for not wanting testing were either that it wouldnt make much difference, or there would be negative side effects of testing. The latter includes increased worry from a positive result, or concerns it would impact access to life insurance products (premiums could rise or they could be declined cover).

The largest group of 11 participants were unconditional decliners who, unlike the other groups, could not imagine going ahead with genetic testing either now or in the future. While the reasons were similar to the previous groups, they were not open to changing their mind.

This research reveals several things first, that community understanding of predictive genetic testing is poor in some groups, and second, the value assigned to this testing is far lower than the hype around genetic discoveries would suggest.

Third, it reveals that significant structural barriers stand in the way of genetic testing, particularly the concern life insurance companies can use genetic test information to refuse cover or adjust premiums.

If genetic tests are going to fulfil their promise of contributing to cancer prevention, they need to be seen as something of value, and they need to reach everybody in the community, not just a select few. There needs to be more effort spent engaging with the intended recipients of new technology, and potential barriers, earlier in the process.

Its foolish to ignore the perceptions, assumptions, and concerns of the very people who are meant to use the technology. Predictive genetic testing for hereditary colorectal cancer is in some ways a straightforward test, with clear consequences for medical management. Yet this testing is far from mainstream or acceptable for the people we spoke to.

Its time to devote more than 3% of funding to translation, to ensure scientific advances in genetics result in improved human health and we get value for the whole society from the money spent on research.

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Why it might be time to reconsider the money spent on genetics research - The Conversation AU