News

Nuclear research on corn rootworm in corn plants

A University of Missouri plant biologist – through the use of radioactive isotopes – has led research that has discovered how some corn plants partially repair themselves from western corn rootworm damage. Richard Ferrieri, a research professor in the MU Interdisciplinary Plant Group, and an investigator at the MU Research Reactor (MURR),  tells Brownfield Ag News – he’s adapted positron emission tomography – PET imaging used in the medical field – to trace a hormone in corn plants whose roots are under attack by corn rootworm, “We’ve altered the instrumentation a little bit so it’s more amenable to studying plants but we can look dynamically at the movement of radioactive-labeled molecules of interest in a living plant without destroying the plant.”

He tells Brownfield his research will help plant breeders target traits to strengthen the plant against corn rootworm attacks by building up the plant to repair itself, “By building up the biochemical pathways, it will allow the plant to build upon its ability to grow new roots faster than the old roots are being consumed.”

Corn rootworm causes more than a billion dollars in damage to U.S. corn crops and is a problem in corn production all over the world. Ferrieri says it’s imperative to come up with solutions for feeding the world with the exploding world population expectations.

Ferrieri recently came to the University of Missouri from the Department of Energy national laboratory where he conducted bio-energy research.

University of Missouri (Nuclear methods to study pest resistance in corn plants)