Top plant scientists from across Africa are undergoing training in gene editing for crops through the UC Davis African Plant Breeding Academy. The course, focusing on CRISPR technology, aims to enhance crop adaptation to climate change and improve nutrition.
Maeli Melotto, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences specializing in plant immunity, has been recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.
Imtiyaz Khanday, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, is co-leading an international team that has propagated a commercial hybrid rice strain as a clone through seeds with 95 percent efficiency. The method that led to this breakthrough could lower the cost of hybrid rice seed, making high-yielding, disease-resistant rice strains available to low-income farmers worldwide.
Jorge Dubcovsky of UC Davis was awarded the Frank N. Meyer Medal for his pioneering work on wheat genetics, including the development of germplasm and wheat varieties that improve yield, nutrition, and climate resilience.
E. Charles Brummer, UC Davis professor and Plant Breeding Center director, was honored by the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference for his groundbreaking research and leadership in alfalfa breeding, genetics, and genomics over 30 years.
Plant pathologist Paul G. Smith was honored posthumously at the 2022 International Pepper Conference for pioneering pepper genetics. His work on disease resistance and pepper breeding continues to shape global crop science today.
UC Davis researchers identified a gene variant, WAPO1, in wheat that can increase grain yield by allowing more grains to grow in each spike. This could improve food production, lower prices, and help meet global demand.
UC Davis leads a $15 million, five-year project to accelerate wheat breeding in response to climate change. The project involves 41 institutions and focuses on new traits for wheat, improving breeding methods, and training the next generation of plant breeders.
UC Davis researchers, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute, discovered that DNA mutations in plants are not random but follow a non-random pattern that benefits the plant. This finding challenges existing mutation theories and could aid in crop breeding and disease prevention.
Climate change creates hotter weather and drier seasons – and new challenges for farmers. With excessive heat damaging seed quality, seed producers and growers increasingly need uniform and productive crops with thermotolerance.
