The University of Illinois has received a $5.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the effects of ground-level ozone on corn, with the end goal being to develop an ozone-tolerant variety of corn, according to Lisa Ainsworth, associate professor in integrative biology and principal investigator on the grant.
Two other professors will be involved in the project: Andrew Leakey, assistant professor in plant biology, and Patrick Brown, assistant professor in crop sciences. The three plan to look for differences in the phenotypes of the ozone-treated and untreated corn. They then want to cross the most ozone-resistant corn with the least-resistant, creating a variation that will be resistant to ozone and provide increased yield. “Ozone concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since preindustrial times,” said Ainsworth. “This is a relatively new pollutant that plants are facing, and it’s something that is decreasing yields.”
The project is slated to begin in the summer of 2013.
Two other professors will be involved in the project: Andrew Leakey, assistant professor in plant biology, and Patrick Brown, assistant professor in crop sciences. The three plan to look for differences in the phenotypes of the ozone-treated and untreated corn. They then want to cross the most ozone-resistant corn with the least-resistant, creating a variation that will be resistant to ozone and provide increased yield. “Ozone concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since preindustrial times,” said Ainsworth. “This is a relatively new pollutant that plants are facing, and it’s something that is decreasing yields.”
The project is slated to begin in the summer of 2013.
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