FARGO, N.D. — Gene identification already has led to the potential of preventing certain cancers in mice. Some scientists believe that within five years, soon-to-be parents could have the capability of altering genes in their unborn child that would prevent the later development of certain diseases.

 

Agriculture certainly hasn’t been left out of the science, and in fact continues to play a leading role in gene typing and development. In addition to genetics work conducted at a host of university laboratories across the United States, as well as testing labs maintained by state agriculture departments throughout the Midwest, farmers and ranchers have access to a nonprofit super-charged gene typing center that recently celebrated its one-year anniversary in Fargo.

The lab, the National Agricultural Genotyping Center (NAGC), opened in June 2016 to much fanfare in its goals of providing a quick, inexpensive response to farmers and the samples they send in for analysis.

Still considered a “toddler” in its field, the center is a collaboration of the National Corn Growers Assoc. and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and it is backed by most major corn groups in the United States. Corn associations in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and North Dakota and the Ohio Small Grains Assoc. are among the charter lifetime members of the center, contributing an initial $100,000 membership donation to help get it off the ground.

It opened on June 21, 2016. “A key part of our mission at the National Agricultural Genotyping Center is to translate scientific discoveries into solutions for farmers and production agriculture,” said Pete Snyder, the center’s president and CEO, after it was announced late last month the center had developed assays for the testing of two of corn’s nastiest diseases, Goss’ Wilt and Xanthomonas.

For about $50 per sample, corn farmers, agronomists and crop consultants can now call on the center to determine if their crop is affected by either disease and then take appropriate steps to address it, in a much more time-effective way.

“No longer will it take months or longer to make a determination,” Snyder said. “This is another important step in that regard. The new assays we have developed will provide proper identification in weeks rather than months, and cut costs substantially.”

As officials were seeking proposals to build the genotyping center – they received eight separate requests to host the facility – the state of North Dakota stepped up and offered a package valued at $2.1 million. Part of the agreement calls for the USDA and its Agriculture Research Service to share part of the building in Fargo, but the center is structured to continue operating as a self-funded facility, Snyder said.

The CEO noted the development of one assay, identifying the genetic codes of a particular strain of virus, is “quite a laborious process. It can take at least nine months to develop an assay,” he said.

One of the first projects the center completed was to develop as assay to assist the honeybee industry, popular in North Dakota. Using some research already made public, the center within a few weeks developed the testing needed to identify two bacterial diseases and nine viral diseases that can impact honeybee colonies and population.

The test for all 11 costs $75, significantly less than what it costs at other facilities.

 

And now the floodgates of requests have opened, Snyder said, noting that 38 separate requests for assays are pending, including for chronic wasting disease in deer, various viruses that affect winter wheat, diseases that hit the sugar beet crop and general resistance to glyphosate herbicide.

“Our whole goal is to commercialize this technology and bring it directly to producers,” the CEO said. “And the vast majority of our board members are farmers, so these guys do see the big picture and how it can help individual producers across the country.”

Having test results in hand quicker than ever before means producers can attack a problem with the right applications, saving money in the long term, said Larry Hoffman, chair of the NCGA’s Corn Productivity and Quality Action Team.

“Farming is a complicated pursuit that involves many choices. Making the right choice at the right time can have a huge effect on profitability,” Hoffman said.

“This is especially true when it comes to identifying the dozens of diseases that can harm healthy corn plants, yields and grain quality. 

 

“We are extremely excited to see this state-of-the-art facility living up to its promise. The genotyping center is already building a reputation for using its high-throughput genotyping technology to both inform and solve problems facing agriculture.”