Conference: Support for INTERDROUGHT II Conference, September2005, Rome. Italy

干旱是全世界粮食生产的主要制约因素。十年前举行的第一次国际干旱问题国际会议汇集了一系列专门知识，以确定干旱敏感性和耐旱性的遗传机制，探索在干旱易发环境中改善作物表现的实际途径，并处理与这种做法相联系的社会经济环境相关问题。考虑到过去十年在分子水平上的知识急剧增加，早该召开一次集中讨论干旱各个方面的国际会议。现在已经组织了INTERDROUGHTII，以促进跨学科工作，并利用来自植物基因组学工作的理解，以便更全面地了解如何将这些知识整合到现有的育种计划中。近年来，在了解植物对干旱胁迫反应和耐性的分子基础方面取得了很大进展。已经鉴定了数十个干旱反应基因，其中一些基因的功能已经得到解决。拟南芥和水稻全基因组序列的获得，以及关于其他植物基因组的越来越多的信息，加上对干旱诱导基因的大规模测序和对整个基因组表达谱的分析，为识别候选基因提供了进一步的机会，这些基因的操纵可能通过工程和/或标记辅助选择来加速未来的抗旱性改良。INTERDROUGHT-II的目标是(1)作为一个平台，介绍和辩论通过遗传和管理方法提高干旱条件下作物产量和稳定性的关键问题和战略；(2)评估填补分子水平与田间水平之间知识差距的方法；(3)制定战略，更有效地利用科学知识，释放更多用水高效和抗旱能力强的品种，并更高效地管理水资源。智力上的价值和影响力。现在，公共和私营部门都越来越需要在涉及分子科学的学科和涉及田间作物管理的学科之间进行交流。INTERDROUGHT-II为这种交流提供了一个独特和及时的平台。尽管INTERDROUGHT-II的主要重点在于分子遗传学、植物育种和管理实践的科学前沿，但该计划已经解决了社会经济问题。INTERDROUGHT-II将特别关注那些较贫穷、欠发达的国家，这些国家面临着日益严重的问题，即用更少的水在易干旱的边缘土地上增加粮食产量。会议将努力解决这些问题，发展中国家的专家和学生将适当参加。我们预计将有来自各大洲的400人参加，其中许多人是年轻的和即将到来的科学家，以及利益相关者(如非政府组织、NARI、CGIAR等)。将出席会议，为加强外联工作提供平台。NSF的支持将用于支付美国年轻科学家的部分旅行费用和/或住宿费用，这些费用通过植物/作物科学协会的网页进行宣传。将特别重视支持年轻的研究人员对大学中与干旱有关的专题感兴趣并从事这方面的工作，将研究成果传递给农业和土著社区。干旱是一个全球问题，解决办法是全球性的，建立研究网络至关重要--就像我们的资金分配将做的那样，向少数群体提供参加ID-II的机会同样至关重要。

Drought is the major constraint in food production world-wide. A first INTERDROUGHT meeting held a decade ago brought together a range of expertise to identify the genetic mechanisms underlying drought sensitiity and tolerance, explore practical avenues for improving crop performance in drought-prone environments, and to address issues related to the socio-economic environment interfacing with such practices. Considering the particularly steep increase in knowledge at the molecular level over the last decade, an International conference focussing on all aspects of drought is overdue. INTERDROUGHT II has now been organized to foster interdisciplinary work and harness the understanding coming from plant genomics work for a more holistic view on how to integrate such knowledge in existing breeding programs. Great advances have been made in recent years in understanding the molecular basis of plant response and tolerance to drought stress. Scores of drought-responsive genes have been identified and the function of some has been resolved. The availability of whole genome sequences for Arabidopsis and rice, and increasingly more information about the genomes of other plant species, together with massive sequencing of drought-induced genes and the analysis of the expression profile of entire genomes has provided further opportunities to identify candidate genes whose manipulation either through engineering and/or marker-assisted selection will likely be instrumental for hastening future improvements in drought tolerance. The objectives of INTERDROUGHT-II are (1) to serve as a platform for presenting and debating key issues and strategies relevant for increasing the yield and stability of crops under drought conditions by genetic and management approaches; (2) to assess ways to fill the knowledge gap between the molecular level and the field level; (3) devise strategies to more effectivley deploy scientific knowledge to release more water-use efficient and drought-resilient cultivars and to more efficiently manage water resources. Intellectual Merit and Impact. There is now an increasing demand in both public and private sectors for interchange between disciplines involved with molecular science and those involved with crop management in the field. INTERDROUGHT-II offers a unique and timely platform for this exchange. Although the major emphasis of INTERDROUGHT-II lies in the scientific forefront of molecular genetics, plant breeding and management practices, socio-economic issues have been addressed in the program. INTERDROUGHT-II will be especially concerned with the poorer, less-developed countries that confront an escalating problem of increasing food production with less water and on marginal, drought-prone land. The conference will strive to address such problems with appropriate participation of experts and students from developing countries. We expect 400 people from all continents to attend, many of them young and upcoming scientists, and stakeholders (e.g., NGOs, NARI, CGIAR, etc.) will be present, providing a platform for enhanced outreach. The support from NSF will be used to partially cover travel costs and/or accomodations for young US scientists, advertized through plant/crop science society webpages. Special emphasis will be placed on supporting young reseachers interested in and working on drought-related topics at Colleges that transmit research results to farming and indigenous communities. Drought is a planet-wide problem, solutions are global, research networking is essential - it is equally essential to provide, as our funding allocation will do, minorities the opportunity to attend ID-II.