South Dakota State University, SD
08-15-06
SDSU lands major research award
South Dakota State University has landed a major research award that will help
grape growers everywhere.
South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station Director Dr. John Kirby said SDSU
professor Anne Fennell, a molecular biologist specializing in woody plants,
assembled a team from SDSU and three other universities that won a $3 million
grant from the National Science Foundation. Fennell is the principal investigator.
SDSU will be the lead institution in the study and will use about $1.2 million of the
grant to carry out its part of the study. The project examines the biological
mechanisms involved when grapes enter or break dormancy. The research will
promote advances in selecting and breeding grapes for different climates and will
also lead to improved practices for managing dormancy in existing grape
cultivars.
Other investigators working with Fennell in the project are Karen Schlauch, of
Boston University; Grant Cramer, of the University of Nevada-Reno; and Julie
Dickerson, of Iowa State University.
“This grant is a $3 million grant to study the functional genomics of bud
endodormancy in grapes. Dormancy is a critical stage of plant development in
that it impacts the timing of winter survival – when does the plant shut down and
when does it wake up, and how does that relate to the environment? That’s
controlled by the genetics of the plant, as well as the interaction with the
environment,” Fennell said.
Fennell explained that some grapes are temperature-sensitive, some are day
length-sensitive, and some use both temperature and day length as signals for
entering dormancy.
Initially Fennell will compare two very different species, one sensitive to day
length and one not sensitive to day length. The experiment also will look at how
the progeny from those lines, though genetically very closely related, respond to
different environmental cues in regard to dormancy.
Having cultivars that enter dormancy before the environmental stress of severe
cold is a critical issue for grape growers in northern regions such as South
Dakota, Fennell said. Grape growers in more moderate climates sometimes have
a different problem – temperatures may not be cold enough so that a plant truly
enters dormancy, meaning grapes can be slower to begin actively growing and
producing fruit once growing weather returns. That could cost growers valuable
growing weather and market opportunities.
Kirby said the award means SDSU will be a lead institution studying abiotic
stress in grapes, particularly the issues of how temperature and day length affect
dormancy.
“We’re constantly working to integrate basic science, genomics and new frontiers
into agricultural research. Anne has been working with grapes for many years
and has developed valuable resources through very careful science,” Kirby said.
“This is an exciting time for us, to see someone who has put in all the legwork
and all the hard background work to now get recognized to do the real cuttingedge work.”
Dr. Gary Lemme, dean of SDSU’s College of Agriculture and Biological
Sciences, said the award points to the importance of specialty crops as South
Dakota agriculture presses into the 21st century. There are already at least
seven active farm wineries in South Dakota, Lemme noted, which generate
substantial revenue though only about 70 acres in the entire state of South
Dakota are now devoted to growing grapes. Fennell’s groundbreaking research
will not only benefit those northern growers, but grape growers around the world.
“This award by the National Science Foundation is a recognition of the quality
science that is being conducted here at South Dakota State University,” Lemme
said. “Dr. Fennell should be complimented for developing the team of scientists
from other universities to work with her so that we’re doing fundamental science
for an intended use of promoting the economic development of South Dakota.”