U.S.-India Cooperative Research: Development of Transgenic Wheat and Fungal Endophytes to Improve Iron Acquisition by Wheat.

描述：该奖项支持美印合作研究项目，题为“开发能够表达细菌铁载体的小麦和真菌内生菌：全球缺铁性贫血（IDA）的可持续解决方案”。合作者是亨茨维尔阿拉巴马大学的G.K. Podila教授、新德里贾瓦哈拉尔·尼赫鲁大学的Ajit Varma教授和北马哈拉施特拉邦的Sudhir Chincholkar教授。缺铁性贫血是一个世界性的普遍问题，可以通过提高谷物、种子、水果和蔬菜中的铁含量来缓解。本研究的主要目标是培育铁营养增加的小麦植株。研究人员建议开发转基因小麦和一种能够表达细菌铁载体的真菌内生菌（P. indica），以改善小麦对铁的获取。范围：这项研究有可能对世界大部分人口的营养健康产生积极影响，并有助于减轻IDA。这项合作研究是美印菌根真菌研讨会的成果。Varma和Podila在2003年完成，并得到了国家科学基金会的支持。它涉及美国和印度之间的学生和教师交流。对于互动的科学家和学生来说，好处是相互的。在印度和美国，种植富含铁元素的小麦将扩大铁元素在农业中的应用

0422946Podila Description: This award supports the U.S.-India cooperative research entitled Towards Development of Wheat and Fungal Endophytes Capable of Expressing Bacterial Siderophores: A Sustainable Solution to Global Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA). The collaborators are Professors G.K. Podila, University of Alabama Huntsville, Ajit Varma, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, and Sudhir Chincholkar, North Maharashtra. Iron deficiency anemia is an extensive worldwide problem that can be alleviated by improving the proportion of iron in grains, seeds, fruits and vegetables. The principal goal of this research is to develop wheat plants with increased iron nutrition. The investigators propose to develop transgenic wheat and a fungal endophyte (P. indica) capable of expressing bacterial siderophores in order to improve acquisition of iron by wheat. Scope: This research has the potential to positively impact the nutritional health of large portions of the world's population and help to alleviate IDA. The collaborative research is an outgrowth of a U.S.-India workshop on Mycorrhizal fungi jointly organized by Drs. Varma and Podila in 2003 and supported by NSF. It involves exchanges of students and faculty between the U.S. and India. The benefits are mutual for the interacting scientists and students. Having wheat plants with increased iron nutrition will have expanded use in agriculture in India and the U.S.