Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

Awarded a grant of $99,998 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Associate Professor of Chemistry Mark Stocksdale will conduct new research on phytosiderophores in grasses that bind and transport iron to plants through their roots.

RICHMOND, Ind. — "Grassroots initiatives" can sometimes be more fulfilling than lucrative, but for one Earlham College professor, his study of actual grass roots has garnered a grant of $99,998 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Funding for this competitive grant proposal, Uptake Specificity of Synthetic Phytosiderophore Analogs by Graminaceous Plants, is the first Earlham has received from the USDA.

Dr. Mark G. Stocksdale, associate professor of chemistry at Earlham, will use the grant money over the next two years to fund new research on phytosiderophores, which are molecules that bind and transport iron to plants through their roots. This research will focus specifically on phytosiderophores in grasses.

"Our research poses the question of whether we can use these transport mechanisms in grasses for something other than their intended purpose," says Stocksdale. "We call these 'effector molecules.' You can think of these particular effectors as a Trojan horse; it's a way to get into a plant without the plant knowing about it."

And that's significant, he says, because grasses are "our most economically important plant species."

That economic importance stretches back approximately 10,000 years since grasses first began to be cultivated as a food source for domesticated animals. Extraordinarily diverse and versatile, grasses are used for lawn ornamentation, biofuel production, paper manufacturing and, perhaps most importantly, as an essential part of the human diet. Wheat, corn, oats, barley, rice, sugarcane and bamboo are just the very beginning of the list of grass species.

Understanding how phytosiderophores may be used to transport biological agents into the plant may have a significant impact on the enormous agrochemical market. Although largely responsible for the explosive increase in crop yields from large-scale farming in the last 50 years, agrochemicals (e.g., pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and other chemical growth agents) also have had a detrimental impact on the environment. Stocksdale believes this research may one day lead to reduced use of agrochemicals.

Over the course of the two-year funding period, Stocksdale will work in tandem with Dr. George T. Davis, associate professor of biology at Bloomsburg University.

"We'll be collaborating, using the biology and chemistry resources at both schools," says Stocksdale enthusiastically. "And we'll be making significant use of undergraduate student researchers."

Dynamic interaction with faculty research and complex experimentation such as this may explain why more than 80 percent of Earlham's chemistry and biochemistry graduates go on to advanced study in these or related fields.

This funding comes from the National Research Initiative (NRI) at the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (USDA CSREES).

Contact:
Mark Blackmon, director of media relations
765/983-1256 — E-Mail Mark