Maryland farmers were recently warned that Asian soybean rust, a contagious fungal disease that has devastated soybean crops in other parts of the world, had made its way to the state.
The fungus, which can reduce a soybean's field yield by 80 percent if left untreated, was spotted at disease sentinel plots in Worcester County.
This week comes word from scientists who say that new research shows promise of protecting soybean fields from the damaging disease.
Molecular biologist Kerry F. Pedley, at the Agriculture Research Service's foreign disease-weed science research unit at Fort Detrick, will use gene silencing to discover plant genes that play a role in guarding against soybean rust in resistant plants.
Gene silencing allows scientists to identify a gene's function by disabling it in plants or other organisms, challenging the organism in some way - such as with exposure to a pathogen - and observing the consequences that result from the gene missing.
In Pedley's studies, the gene-silenced plants will be inoculated with spores of Phakopsora pachyrhizi (the scientific name for the soybean rust pathogen) and monitored for a breakdown in resistance.
The ultimate goal of the research is to streamline the development of new soybean cultivars that can withstand soybean rust.
