WHAT'S NEW

• Rice: Research to Production Course: June 2008 in the Philippines.
• The improved 'public' web-face to our NSF Trangressive Variation in Rice Grant (click Rice Diversity Website, left sidebar.)
• Woo M-O, Ham T-H, Ji H-S, Choi M-S, Jiang W, Chu S-H, Piao R, Chin J-H, Kim J-A, Park BS, Seo HS, Jwa N-S, McCouch S, Koh H-J (2008) Inactivation of the UGPase1 gene causes genic male sterility and endosperm chalkiness in rice (Oryza sativa L.). The Plant Journal 54:190-204 LINK URL
• Kovach M and McCouch S (2008) Leveraging natural diversity: back through the bottleneck. 5. Curr Opin Pl Biol 11:193-200 LINK URL (go to: http://dx.doi.org and paste in: doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2007.12.006)
• Iyer-Pascuzzi AS, Jiang H, Huang J, McCouch S (2008) Genetic and functional characterization of the rice bacterial blight disease resistance gene xa5. Phytopathology 98:289-295 LINK URL

2007

• CALs Fall 2007 Magazine article entitled "Supergenomics: Molecular Genetics in the Age of the Supercomputer" by Jeannie Griffith PDF
• Nov. 5, 2007: Dr. Susan McCouch wins a Golden Sickle Award in Bangkok, Thailand, presented by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
• Kovach M, Sweeney M, McCouch S (2007) New insights into the history of rice domestication. Trends Genet 23:579-587 LINK URL
• McCouch SR, Sweeney M, Li J, Jiang H, Thomson M, Septiningsih E, Moncada P, Xiao J, Coburn J, Fraker E, Garris A, Tai T, Martinez C, Tohme J, Sugiono M, McClung A, Yuan LP, Ahn S-N (2005) Identification and transfer of trait-enhancing alleles from wild species. In: Brar DS, Mackill DJ, Hardy B (eds) Rice Genetics V: Proceedings of the Fifth International Rice Genetics Symposium, 19-23 November 2005. World Scientific Publishing and International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines, pp 209-232 (not available online)
• Caicedo AL, Williamson SH, Hernandez RD, Boyko A, Fledel-Alon A, York TL, Polato NR, Olsen KM, Nielsen R, McCouch SR, Bustamante CD, Purugganan MD (2007) Genome-Wide Patterns of Nucleotide Polymorphism in Domesticated Rice. PLoS Genetics 3:e163 LINK
• Today's white rice is mutation spread by early farmers, researchers say. 16 Aug 2007 Cornell University Chronicle Online
  
• Red or White? Nature "Research Highlights", vol 448 23 Aug 2007, pg 843
  
• Global Dissemination of a Single Mutation Conferring White Pericarp in rice. PLoS Genetics 3: e133 (2007)
  

WELCOME to the MCCOUCH LAB WebPage

Here you will find information regarding the research interests of the group, recent publications, current and former lab members, and a calendar with upcoming events.

The McCouch group investigates natural variation in the genus Oryza, focusing on how it evolved, how it is distributed in both domesticated and wild Oryza species, how it conditions complex phenotypes and how it can be efficiently utilized in rice improvement.

We have pioneered studies demonstrating that low-yielding wild and exotic Oryza species harbor genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) that can be used to enhance the performance of modern, high-yielding rice cultivars. This work is done in collaboration with scientists and breeders in Asia, Africa, North and South America.

In collaboration with colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Lab, we develop and curate Gramene, a large, publicly available comparative plant genome database (www.gramene.org) that integrates knowledge from many different disciplines. Gramene allows students and researchers to link molecular genetic information in the grasses with knowledge about the way plants grow and develop in diverse environments.