Liuling Yan only joined Oklahoma State University?s Division of
Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources last year, but that move is
already helping the southern Great Plains states make major breakthroughs in
wheat improvement.
Yan is a world-class scientist with impressive accomplishments in the
development and application of molecular genetics tools and techniques, said
David R. Porter, head of OSU?s department of plant and soil sciences.

?Dr. Yan takes genetic improvement to a new level to produce improved
wheat varieties, and that is certain to help Oklahoma producers be
competitive in the world market,? Porter said. ?We?re very pleased that he
is a member of our department and the Division?s Wheat Improvement Team.?

Yan and his research group, working in collaboration with Brett
Carver, OSU Regents professor of wheat genetics and breeding, recently
discovered a genome region that has a significant effect on the development
process of winter wheat.

A DNA marker for this genomic region has been developed to select
lines for biomass production that can be utilized as forage or as a
supplemental biofuel feedstock.

?This exciting find was achieved based on the genetic segregation of
flowering time in a population generated from a cross between two winter
cultivars, Jagger ? a typical early flowering wheat variety ? and 2174, a
late-flowering wheat variety,? Porter said.

The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology
recently awarded $90,000 for two years to support Yan?s work in the cloning
of this gene that is so beneficial to the dual purpose wheat in Oklahoma.

Yan is recognized worldwide in the scientific plant community as a
leader in the cloning of genes from the large and complex genome of wheat.

The wheat genome contains 16 billion base pairs, the DNA building
block: That is five times the size of the human genome and approximately 120
times the genome size of Arabidopsis, the first plant to have its entire
genome sequenced and a baseline model used for studying plant biology.

?Throw in the fact that wheat is a hexaploid species having three
similar genomes and most people get lost in the science fairly quickly,?
said Mark Hodges, Oklahoma Wheat Commission executive director. ?The bottom
line is that what Dr. Yan does is not easy, and Oklahoma is very fortunate
to have him working on improvement of the state?s wheat crop.?

And by ?Oklahoma? Hodges means all of Oklahoma is benefiting from Yan?s
work, not just the state?s agricultural industry.

?At Aug. 15 prices, the cash price of an average crop in Oklahoma
would be more than $900 million if we would have harvested a normal crop,
which, of course, we weren?t able to manage this year because of the weather
and other factors,? Hodges said.

Hodges added that figure does not take into account the livestock or
pounds-of-beef-produced aspects of wheat production and use.

?In a normal year, wheat can easily account for more than $1.5 billion
to the rural parts of the state, and eventually affects the entire state?s
economic well-being,? Hodges said.

USDA data ? backed up by OSU research conducted by Division
scientists ? indicate the average increase of yield attributed to variety
research is a half bushel per acre per year.

?If you figure 30 bushels per acre in average yield and we increase
that by a half bushel every year, at current prices that would be an
increase of $3 per acre a year in return to the producer just in terms of
the genetics,? Hodges said. ?Talk about providing a benefit.?

It is little wonder that the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences featured Yan on its cover when he cloned the third vernalization
gene from wheat in 2006: The cover and companion article reporting Yan?s
findings made him the subject of considerable scientific attention.

?PNAS is the premier science journal in the nation, actually the
world,? Porter said.

Vernalization requirement, long-term exposure to low temperatures to
flower, is a common phenomenon in Oklahoma winter wheat varieties.

?Revealing the vernalization genes in varieties would provide valuable
information vital to our efforts to improve Oklahoma wheat, which in turn
would provide direct and indirect benefits to Oklahoma?s agricultural
industry and the state economy,? Porter said.

Since Yan?s arrival in Oklahoma, he has taken his PNAS-published
research one step further, by discovering key minute differences in the DNA
of winter wheat varieties and their initiation of reproductive development.

?What this means to our wheat breeding program, and to the Oklahoma
wheat producer, is that we?ll be able to tell with much greater confidence
if a new variety can be grazed one to two weeks longer without sacrificing
grain yield,? Carver said.

Just one more week of grazing could put an additional $3 per acre to
$4 per acre in the producer's pocket.

?Yan?s our man,? Carver said. ?Yan?s type of research fits Oklahoma?s
way of producing beef and wheat from one crop like a golf club fits Tiger
Woods? hands.?

A native of China, Yan spent six years at the University of
California-Davis prior to joining the OSU faculty. He was educated mainly in
his native country but earned his doctoral degree in plant genetics in
Australia.


[www2.dasnr.okstate.edu]