This award will assist the University of Wisconsin purchase several pieces of shared equipment for a group of nine investigators who are involved in basic plant biology research. The research to be pursued with the equipment includes; (1) molecular evolution, (2) starch metabolism, (3) molecular biology of plant detoxification mechanism, (4) salt transport, (5) purine metabolism in plants, (6) nitrogen fixation, (7) cereal endosperm development, and (8) the molecular mechanisms of protein turnover in plants. Plant materials used by these researchers vary from the model organism, Arabidopsis, to soybean, oats, Brassica and alfalfa. The equipment to be purchased includes plant growth chambers, an oligonucleotide synthesizer, spectrophotometer, and centrifuges. These shared pieces of equipment will greatly facilitate advances of plant biology research at the University of Wisconsin, and will increase already active interactions among plant scientists in several departments.
