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The Soybean Disease Biotechnology Center has been established with the mission to identify current useful technologies to protect the U.S. soybean crop and to seek out and facilitate the implementation of novel strategies and technologies to reduce losses and increase profitability for the U.S. soybean industry.
While there have been significant improvements in soybean yields during the last few decades, there has been little reduction in the percentage of crops lost to disease. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN), sudden death syndrome (SDS), bean pod mottle virus (BPMV), Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR), Asian soybean rust (SBR), and other diseases continue to be a major threat to the U.S. soybean industry. Although the management practices for each disease may vary, researchers continually strive to understand the genetics and biochemistry involved in host-pathogen interactions. This genetic understanding of crop diseases requires biotechnology applications. Since its inception, the Center has embraced the power of the emerging sciences of structural, comparative, and functional genomics and genetic transformation. A recent innovation has been the coupling of the power of nanoscale technologies with biotechnology and other tools focused on reducing the impact of soybean disease.
Of course, technological innovations are only effective if they are employed to benefit society. The Center strives to examine and anticipate the interplay between technological development and society. Therefore, concurrent with advancing biotechnology approaches to solve agricultural problems is the awareness that the economic, legal and societal impact of agricultural biotechnology must be anticipated. The Center is managed by the National Soybean Research Center and will continue to develop as a primary line of defense against major soybean diseases that threaten the U.S. soybean industry.
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