On a sunny June day at the Plant Science Research Farm, Carol Auer, professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, stands on the edge of a research field looking over thousands of golden flowers of Camelina sativa. Soon, these flowers will produce a small seed containing a high percentage of oil and protein. Camelina is an oilseed crop that has been cultivated in Europe for thousands of years. However, production in the US has been very limited. But with rapid scientific advances and the demand for renewable fuels, genetically engineered (GE) camelina is likely to produce future products such as jet fuel, dietary supplements and bioplastics. The value of these novel traits could boost GE camelina production on US farms, but it also raises some important questions about long-term ecological effects. That’s where Auer comes in. With the help of a new grant, she has begun gathering information about camelina to understand its pollen dispersal, gene flow and persistence as a weed. This type of baseline data is critical for predicting future ecological impacts. Auer received $436,000 this past September from the Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grant Program, an initiative of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. “Getting grants is one of the exciting events in academic life” Auer said. “Now my lab can move forward to answer many important questions about camelina biology and ecology.” There are probably few crops with as much potential as camelina because it grows quickly and can be engineered to produce high-value products. The last decade has seen a number of new GE camelina varieties emerge from research programs around the world. One high-profile research project in the United Kingdom has used genes from marine algae to modify camelina so that the seeds store high levels of omega–3 fatty acids. Ultimately, this critical nutritional compound could be harvested from GE camelina for consumption by humans or fish produced in aquaculture facilities.
Plant scientist studies long-term ecological effects of genetically engineered crops
On a sunny June day at the Plant Science Research Farm, Carol Auer, professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, stands on the edge of a research field looking over thousands of golden flowers of Camelina sativa. Soon, these flowers will produce a small seed containing a high percentage of oil and […]
Carol Auer, research professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture.
