The Soybean Genetics Committee met from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., February 19, 2001, at the Sheraton West Port Hotel, St. Louis, Mo., in conjunction with the Soybean Breeders Workshop. Glenn Buss called the meeting to order.
Committee members in attendance were G. Buss, E. Cober, P. Cregan, R. Fioritto, D. Grant, D. Lohnes, and R. Nelson. Also in attendance were Prakash Arelli, Terry Coffelt, Vainu Poysa, and Brian Sterling. The terms of Perry Cregan and Todd Pfeiffer are expiring this year and Clay Sneller has resigned because he is accepting a position in wheat breeding. New members elected to fill the expired terms were Brian Diers and Jim Orf. John Tamulonis was elected to serve the remaining two years of Clay Sneller's term. Current committee members and the February expiration date of their terms include:
G.R. Buss (2002) gbuss@vt.edu
E.R. Cober (2002) Coberer@em.agr.ca
D.Grant (2003) dgrant@iastate.edu
J. Tamulonis (2003) john.p.tamulonis@monsanto.com
B.Diers (2004) bdiers@uiuc.edu
J.H Orf (2004) orfxx001@maroon.tc.umn.edu
R.J. Fioritto (ex officio) fioritto.1@osu.edu
D.G. Lohnes (ex officio) lohnes.2@osu.edu
R.L. Nelson (ex officio) rnelson@uiuc.edu
David Lohnes provided some statistical data on usage of the Soybean Genetics newsletter website for 2000. The average number of unique visitors to the site each month was 820 with 1247 total visits and 2029 visits to individual articles per month. So visits were very high, but number of articles submitted was very small compared to the number received before we went to electronic publishing. This could be due to lack of a deadline. The committee decided to set deadlines of Feb. 1 and Aug. 1. New articles will only be put up on the site on those dates. Reminders will be sent out to everyone on the current email list.
David Lohnes has tried to generate financial support for the website, but has been unsuccessful so far. Suggestions would be appreciated.
One of the major functions of the Soybean Genetics Committee is to review manuscripts describing new genes for proper use of nomenclature and to review supporting data. Only one manuscript was reviewed this year - the gene symbol Rsv1-h (from Hwang Kum Kong) was assigned to the gene in Suweon 97 for resistance to SMV (Chen et al).
The subject of gene nomenclature, especially as applied to molecular markers, was discussed. The current system is apparently unworkable in Soybase because it is based on the restriction enzyme used rather than a specific genetic locus. Also, authors have not been consistent. The committee will be discussing this over the coming year and will put an article on the website inviting comment from all soybean geneticists
We will also put an appeal on the website for all reviewers of manuscripts for various journals to recommend that the Soybean Genetics Committee review new gene symbols as a prerequisite to publication. Hopefully, this will help the Soybean Genetics Committee do its job and should lead toward a more consistent nomenclature, especially for molecular markers.
Elroy Cober was elected chairman of the committee for the coming year. Manuscripts for committee review should be sent to him.