# [Partners #14/National Research Initiative]{.underline}

Final Script

**Announcer**

This time on Partners, it's the National Research Initiative. From
unlocking the secrets of wheat at the University of California-Davis to
exploring the medicinal wonders of the Mayapple in Mississippi, and
fighting obesity among Hawaiian islander - American researchers are
striving for answers to critical scientific issues in US agriculture.

**Mark Poth/CSREES-USDA**

This is really the synergism -- the leveraging- of our nation's
investment in basic science across the federal science enterprise

**Announcer**

Number range CHAPTERWelcome to Partners! In the next half-hour, we'll
travel the nation and see breakthrough work in research, education and
Extension. That's what CSREES is all about - helping universities
generate valuable knowledge for those who need it, and educating our
next generation of Americans. And now, it's time for Partners!

**Narrator**

America today faces challenges unimaginable to our founders just a few
hundred years ago. Since that time, our numbers have grown to nearly 300
million. Each year, over 3.3 million people are added to the US
population.

With that growth, we are losing valuable space. One acre of natural
habitat or farmland is converted into new buildings or highways for each
new American. And there are other issues. As globalization and
international trade increase, we have introduced over 50,000 invasive
species to our homeland. These plants and animals are causing more than
\$137 billion dollars worth of damage to US crops and natural resources
yearly.

And Americans are using more energy. General consumption increased by
24% from 1970-1990 and continues to grow. Water resources, especially in
the West, are being depleted. On average, underground aquifers are
drained 25% faster than they are being replenished, nationwide.

In 1991, Congress created the National Research Initiative, or the NRI,
within the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
of USDA. The NRI is the nation's primary merit-based, peer-reviewed
grants program that addresses key issues in food, fiber and natural
resources.

**Mark Poth**

The goal here was to fund research that would keep US agriculture
competitive, produce safe and high quality products for consumers, and
thirdly, do this in such a way that we would sustain our natural
resource base that all of us count on to produce food and provide a
place to live.

The globalization of agricultural markets brings in new challenges for
US agriculture. The key will be to always have a better product and
always stay ahead of changes in environment and other factors. Never
before have we been able to make the kind of investment we're now making
across the full scope involved in agricultural research.

This is a new frontier. This is really the synergism -- the leveraging-
of our nation's investment in basic science across the federal science
enterprise to something that is relevant for agriculture and relevant to
everyone.

**Gene Robinson/University of Illinois**

Bees visit flowers and in doing so, get the material to make honey. But
in those visits to flowers, they're doing something very important for
the plants. They're pollinating and thereby contributing to increased
productivity for many of our important agricultural crops.

**Narrator**

Gene Robinson is a professor of entomology at the University of
Illinois. Bees have fascinated him for over thirty years. In addition to
learning about the intricacies of this vital pollinator, he understands
their economic importance. Their value nationally on an annual basis is
estimated to be over 20 billion dollars in terms of added value to the
crops.

But new events are threatening the European honey bee, the species upon
which American agriculture is so dependent. In the past few decades
Africanized honey bees have invaded North America. Their aggressive
behavior has caused problems for producers as they are difficult to
manage.

And then there is AFB-American Foul Brood - strong bacteria that attack
the larvae, or baby bees. Large infestations can lead to the death of
entire honey bee colonies.

**Gene Robinson**

We have fewer than half the colonies of honey bees in America that we
had as little as 10-15 years ago. And yet, a much bigger population, a
much greater needs for food production. So that's not a good situation.

**Narrator**

In response to these threats, CSREES awarded Gene Robinson several
National Research Initiative grants.

**Scientists talking**

Gene-Hey Mark!

Mark-Hi Gene. How are you?

Gene-OK. So how's the printing going?

**Narrator**

NRI funds have allowed him to use state-of- the-art equipment to study
honey bees at the genomic level. In partnership with the USDA Bee Lab,
Gene is taking on the AFB problem.

**Gene Robinson**

What our joint research involves is using the new micro array that we
are building to look at how the bacteria is effecting the bee, what
genes are involved in the process, and more importantly, what kind of
immune responses can the bee mount in response to being attacked by this
pathogen.

**Narrator**

The grant has also allowed Gene and his team to address the Africanized
bee problem by building a new micro array, a device that can measure
thousands of genes simultaneously.

**Gene Robinson**

That's what the NRI grant was for, was to build the new array. This
array is allowing us to address a variety of challenges related to honey
bees and one of them is the Africanized bee.

So we're interested in exploring the differences in gene expressions in
the brains of Africanized bees vs. European bees to see if we can't get
some hints as to what might be the basis for their differences in
defensive behavior. The honey bee genome has opened up many vistas of
research.

**Narrator**

One such vista is learning how bees respond to emergencies. Engineers at
the University of Illinois are working with Gene on this project, a
timely subject in light of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Honey bees
have sophisticated communication systems- ritualized movements called a
"bee dance". Studying how they communicate may help humans in their own
social organization.

**Gene Robinson**

It's a real challenge to understand how a tiny organism with a brain no
bigger than a grass seed is able to engage in symbolic communication
when we otherwise see it limited to a few big-brained animals.

The bee is the only non-mammal in the animal kingdom to have a complex,
and some say, symbolic communication system. This dance encodes several
important pieces of information. First, very simply, it says, 'hey,
there's food out there! You should pay attention.' But more importantly
than that, it gives both distance and direction information. So it tells
other bees that never visited those sites before, where to fly out in
the environment to obtain the food. What this does then is allow a
colony to search broadly for different food sources but to very quickly
concentrate on the most productive, most high-quality food sources. We
really need to do everything we can to bring honey bees back to the
position of strength they were and even to go beyond that and to create
a really healthy bee industry. I see them as over-achievers, and it's
fascinating to try to understand what are the mechanisms that contribute
to their success.

**Announcer**

From 1991 through 2004, the NRI received more than \$1.5 billion in
Congressional appropriations and awarded over 9500 grants.

**Christine McLaurin/Waianea, Hawaii resident**

On June 10^th^, 2004, I was diagnosed with diabetes.

**Narrator**

Since that time, Christine McLaurin, on the advice from her doctor, has
joined the life style enhancement program at the Waianae Coast
Comprehensive Health Center on Oahu. When she started, Christine weighed
250 pounds. To date, she has already dropped 40 and has plans to get her
weight down to 175.

**Christine McLaurin**

Oh, it feels so good! Like, wow! Like when heavy weight got off of my
back. Like I was carrying 2 people. To me it's a life saver because like
so when I was diagnosed with diabetes, now it's like-it's my life! It's
either I exercise or I die. That's the harsh reality of diabetes.
There's a lot of people out there that need help, that need help with
their weight management, in their diabetes-especially on the Waianae
Coast. A lot of obesity and diabetes.

**Sheila Beckham/ Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center**

We're basically trying to improve the health and reduce the horrible
impact of obesity on our community. If we look at different kinds of
statistics related to health, you'll see that Hawaiians have some of the
worst statistics in the nation. We have some of the highest prevalence
of obesity, of asthma, of heart disease, of diabetes, and arthritis,
hypertensions-all of these kinds of conditions.

**Narrator**

In response to these health problems, CSREES awarded the health center a
four-year, \$800,000 NRI grant to study obesity in the community. Data
collected from various subgroups of the population help explain the
intricacies of this health crisis. But the staff's efforts go way beyond
the clinic and the weight room.

**Sheila Beckham**

What we're trying to do is increase healthy agricultural production in
the community, and as sort of a secondary benefit, increase the social
economic viability in the community because this happens to be the
poorest community on island. We've been able to network with community
farmers to actually grow more healthy vegetables, to actually have their
food available here in the community.

**Narrator**

One such source of fresh, local food comes from Waianae High School.
Students here produce various types of seaweed, a nutritious plant used
by Hawaiian residents for centuries. Today they are harvesting ogo, a
popular, mineral-rich seaweed. The students send their produce to the
health center's pavilion restaurant which is open to the public.

**46. Narrator/music-** ACU2/cut 21

Another supplier is local farmer, Gigi Cocquio. His farm produces a
cornucopia of fresh food.

**Gigi Cocquio/ Makaha Farms**

We have all different kinds of stuff from corn, beans, lettuce,
radishes, green onions, peanuts, taro. And different kinds of
fruits-bananas, papayas, mangos-yeah! The land where we are now is
really very fertile. We've started to produce things that we can sell to
them, to the restaurant. And this is great because we are not pressured.

Every week we deliver some stuff and that's a good income for us because
it's a way to survive (laughs). They touch thousands of people and
through them, people start to realize that there's a different way of
living. This is our work. It's like when you plant a tree. It doesn't
grow up in one day. It will take 10 years, 20 years-it doesn't matter.
But we have to plant something and I think that is happening.

**Narrator**

The health center's restaurant is increasing healthy food awareness
among residents. And there are plans to establish a local farmers market
in the near future. For Christine McLaurin, she couldn't be happier that
new markets are being created for local fishermen and farmers.

**Christine McLaurin**

Oh that means more healthy food for me. It's local and I can buy it at
grocery stores too or I can go up to the Comprehensive Pavilion and have
something healthy to eat. It's just straight diet and exercise, and it
works! 40 pounds later! (smile). It takes a lot of work. It's not going
to come easy. You don't lose weight overnight. It's determination. It's
dedication, and you really got to want it bad enough. And for me, that's
my life and nothing and no one is going to stop me.

**Announcer**

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 65 percent
of American adults are overweight or obese.  The cost of obesity was
estimated to be \$117 billion in 2000.

**Jorge Dubcovsky/ University of California-Davis**

It's a beautiful plant that you can grow everywhere. It has moved with
the people from the beginning of civilization, and it's linked to that
origin of that civilization.

Wheat has this fantastic plasticity, capacity of growing one place or
change some of its characteristics and grow in a completely different
environment. That is something that has fascinated me all the time.

**Narrator**

Jorge Dubcovsky's fascination with wheat has led him down several paths
of discovery that are funded by the National Research Initiative.

**Jorge Dubcovsky**

Wheat is just not ..a wild plant. It's a plant that we cultivate. It's a
plant we need to make better. We are increasing our population to very
large numbers and in that same space of land, we need to feed all these
people. So we need to engineer wheat to be a better plant. The only way
you can engineer something is if you understand.

**Narrator**

To advance that understanding, Jorge and his team at the University of
California-Davis are mapping the wheat genome. A genome is all the
genetic material of a living organism. It is the entire set of
hereditary instructions for building and running an organism, and,
passing life on to the next generation.

Sequencing of the human genome, a 13-year effort, was finally completed
in 2003. It is considered, by many, to be the greatest accomplishment of
modern science. The wheat genome that Jorge Dubcovsky is studying,
however, is five times as complex.

**Jorge Dubcovsky**

This is the first time we have the capacity to study all the genes
working together and talking together to each other to produce what we
see. So genomics will give us the possibility to understand how each of
these genes work, how they talk to each other, and how they make one of
the functions work. If we understand that better, there is a much bigger
chance that we can engineer that more efficiently than if we just
randomly mix pieces and hope for the best.

**Narrator**

One of Jorge's developments to date has been his work with DNA tags that
can be used in a process known as Marker-Assisted Selection. This allows
scientists to select more easily genes with desirable traits, especially
those highly affected by the environment.

**Jorge Dubcovsky**

Marker-Assisted Selection is to use the information from the DNA, that
difference in the DNA, to select directly for the gene that is producing
the result that you want to select.

Here we are doing something completely different. We are just using the
genes that are already present in wheat. We are making crosses that we
have been doing all of our lives as breeders. The only thing that we are
doing, is that we are using a better tool to see what we are selecting.
So we are not introducing a foreign piece of DNA any where. We are just
crossing something that is already in germ plasm of wheat\... and then
using those markers to put the pieces together in the way that we want
to assemble that plant.

**Mark Poth/CSREES**

What these genetic markers do is give you a way to go out and test each
plant and say, 'Which ones have the combination that I am looking for?'
This is something through breeding trials and exposures to harsh
conditions and diseases, might take you an entire career. And you can
leap-frog through all that and get the result you want quickly with this
marker-assisted selection. And the final product isn't modified beyond
what's traditionally been done for plant breeding for thousands of
years.

**Jorge Dubcovsky**

Everybody likes to see wheat that is completely free of stripe-rust.

**Narrator**

Here at the annual field day held at the UC-Davis experimental plots,
wheat farmers from around the state gather to hear about recent
developments. One problem of high concern is a fungus called stripe
rust. It ruined \$400 million dollars of wheat in 2003. In response to
this, Jorge is using Marker-Assisted Selection to make new wheat types
that are resistant to stripe rust. This allows him to see results of his
experimentation quickly as compared to traditional breeding methods.

**Bonnie Fernandez/California Wheat Commission**

There are certain things that we need to have happen now. And we have
certain diseases, and certain qualities that we need addressed. So what
we find so good about George (Jorge) is the fact that we really have
faith in him - that we're going to get some of our immediate needs dealt
with. I think he's basically a scientist 24-7.

The US is not the center of the universe on wheat. We used to be one of
the few export players. Now, we are one of many. And in order to
maintain our competitive edge, we're going to have to be more aggressive
on addressing some of the immediate needs and that's where George is
going to help tremendously.

**Mark Poth**

The development of these particular tools -- marker assisted selection,
understanding the gene-rich regions within the genome- have really come
together. And with the partnership of those in the traditional breeding
community, we can bring these new technologies to bear to achieve the
kind of results we really need to keep US agriculture competitive, solve
problems, and produce better quality products for consumers.

**Narrator**

Another effort that may go unnoticed by the American public is
UC-Davis's work with vernalization -- the ability of wheat to determine
when to flower based on temperature. By identifying and experimenting
with two genes, VRN One and Two, it has been possible to manipulate
flowering time. This research has practical implications for improving
wheat varieties.

**Jorge Dubcovsky**

Now that we know which are the genes, we can see what are the different
gene variants that you have in the different cultivars in these
different regions. And test which of these variants is best for each
region. We couldn't see that before because we didn't know which gene. I
think that is where this discovery will help. It's a great time to be a
plant geneticist. I think this has been the decades of biology. It's an
amazing explosion and it's thrilling to be part of that event.

**Announcer**

While agricultural research generally receives less than 2% of the
federal research budget, 75% of agricultural productivity can be
attributed to funded research with estimated returns of 40-60%. 

**Rita Moraes/University of Mississippi**

Mayapple grows in colonies. In the Spring, it's one of the first ones
that come up. That, to me, is very appealing.

**Narrator**

Rita Moraes is on the hunt. Her job today is to collect Mayapple. This
hardy plant, native to the eastern United States, ranges from the dry
Texas plains to the wet Minnesota woodlands. Rita's focus is the
Mayapple's unique chemical compound called podophyllotoxin.

**Rita Moraes**

Podophyllotoxin is used in anticancer drugs. Also in pharmaceuticals for
arthritis, and in topical use to control skin problems.

**Narrator**

It is Mayapple's strong medicinal qualities that have taken Rita to
eight states to survey the plant's populations. The collecting is an
arduous process.

From within this circle, Rita takes a soil sample, photographs the site,
and finally gathers leaf collections. Each sample is diligently
numbered. So to, is the soil from the collection area. Rita also digs
out a Mayapple plant with its roots intact. It will be transplanted
later and become part of the green house collection. With the sampling
complete, Rita now heads out of the dense woodlands and back to her lab.

The University of Mississippi is home to the National Center for Natural
Products Research. It is here where the analysis of the plant's chemical
compounds begins.

**Rita Moraes**

The American Mayapple has a lot in the leaves. And the leaves are
renewable organs. So we can have a sustainable crop. So once you have
that --your field established- after the fourth year, most likely, you
can start cutting the leaves every year.

**Narrator**

This research could not have started at a more opportune time.
Podophyllotoxin, Mayapple's valuable, commercial compound, is the
precursor of semi-synthetic drugs for those fighting leukemia, lung and
testicular cancer.

It was the Mayapple, from India's Himalayan Mountains, that
traditionally supplied the podophyllotoxin needed by the pharmaceutical
industry. Specifically, the prized chemical compound was collected from
its roots.

During harvest in India, plants were simply pulled out - roots and all.
The constant demand for the compound led to the demise of the Indian
Mayapple. Now listed as an endangered species, it is rarely found in
nature. Various laboratories have tried to synthesize podophyllotoxin to
fill the gap. However, total synthesis is expensive and the yield too
low.

**Chavonda Jacobs-Young /CSREES**

In the US, the plant we have here, Rita and her team have identified
ways to get the same amount of extract from the leaves. And so you don't
have to destroy the plant in order to get the important pharmaceutical.
She pulled in the right team. We have agronomists, agricultural
engineers, pharmaceutical engineers working together as well as our
Extension Service people.

**Narrator**

One team member developed a method to quantify the podophyllotoxin found
in the samples. Another from USDA helped Rita discover a more efficient
way to extract the compound. Others are mapping wild Mayapple colonies
found during collection.

**Narrator**

For her second NRI grant, Rita proposed collaborating with Mississippi
State University to explore the possibilities of developing Mayapple
into a profitable row crop. Now, MSU researchers are putting the
Mayapple through rigorous field trials at the Experiment Station in
Verona, Mississippi. Optimum harvest time and ideal propagation
schedules are being determined. So is the amount of sun needed for
maximum podophyllotoxin production.

**Rita Moraes**

For example, we grew Mayapple in different levels of shade. And what we
found out is that Mayapple in the full sun has more of the
podophyllotoxin.

**Narrator**

The potential for Mayapple to become a domestic crop holds great
promise. It would offer the pharmaceutical industry a potent, economical
source of podophyllotoxin, much to the benefit of those dependent on
anti-cancer drugs. And the plant could be an ideal niche crop for the
American farmer. In the meantime, the University of Mississippi team
analyzes extracts provided by the Mississippi State field experiments.
As Rita continues her work there, she also sees potential for discovery
beyond the Mayapple.

**98. Rita Moraes VO**

Mayapple has become my model for... medicinal plant domestication. And
it can be translate to other species that we want to domesticate as
well.

**Narrator**

From cracking the genetic code of honeybees -- agriculture's valuable
pollinators, to fighting obesity through healthy food and exercise. From
the unlocking the secrets of complex wheat genome, to transforming a
wild medicinal plant into a productive row crop - the National Research
Initiative is meeting the challenges of the 21^st^ century. And CSREES
continues their support for Partners who are providing solutions for
agriculture, human health, the environment, and communities throughout
America.

**Announcer**

On the next edition, Partners travels to the Great Plains and discovers
ground-breaking bison research that promises to deliver selenium-rich
meat, community gardens that are reconnecting residents to traditional
plants, a Juneberry project that is reestablishing this time-honored
tribal favorite, and a prairie outreach program that mixes local youth &
horses. That's Tribal Natural Resources - next time, on Partners.

For more information on the National Research Initiative and other
Partners episodes, log on to this web site.