Washington University to Study Corn Genome

Washington University in St. Louis has been awarded a $29.5-Million project from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy. Doctor Richard Wilson, Director of the school’s Genome Sequencing Center, says the school will try to sequence the corn genome. Wilson says not only could researchers discover how to make corn tastier and more resistant to bad weather, but they could also quell some European fears about genetically-modified plants coming from this country. Europe has put up trade barriers to U.S. corn because of fears of what some corn modified with bacteria DNA could do. Wilson says they won’t have the same argument because with genome sequencing, it will be corn DNA spliced with corn DNA.