NMSU Researcher Wins Grant To Map Chile Genetics
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LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - A graduate student researcher at New Mexico State University will head to Asia to help unravel the genetic mysteries of a disease-resistant chile pepper.
Horticulture student Greg Reeves has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to spend the summer helping study a chile known as CM334, which grows wild in Mexico.
Hot peppers are one of New Mexico's signature products. Reeves said the goal of the study is to build research partnerships with Asian countries where chiles also are a huge crop.
While looking at genetic structure, Reeves will be searching for specific markers in the chile that identify resistance to phytophthora, which is caused by a fungus that leads to what farmers call "chile wilt."
From June 8 through Aug. 22, he'll work at Seoul National University in South Korea with professor Doil Choi, whose group is the first to sequence the genome of chiles and has advanced equipment for genetic processing, the university said in a statement.
"It actually has a really poor yield, but it is 100 percent phytophthora resistant. That's why it was chosen," Reeves said in the release of CM334. "Once we find the marker for the gene we're looking for, we should be able to use it to find all the resistance genes that control phytophthora resistance, eventually."
The ultimate goal would be to develop a commercial chile with that resistance, he said, noting the marker possibly could be used in other crops to develop resistance to disease.
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2012-06-01 21:54:06
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