STILLWATER, Okla. – A new research laboratory tied to the Oklahoma State University Innovation Foundation is advancing the mission of OSU Ag Research.
OSU Agriculture is responsible for technological discoveries in animal and crop production, 37 wheat varieties resistant to pests and diseases, and 10 turfgrass varieties resistant to drought and freezing. However, the OSU Ag Research lacks certain technologies and resources that would allow it to streamline and speed up research related to human, animal and plant health, an initiative known as One Health.
One such OSU research achievement is DNA sequencing technology used to determine the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA strand. This specific arrangement of DNA nucleotides encodes valuable information about genetic or biological functions. By analyzing these data, scientists can better understand the genetic makeup of an organism and offer insights into how genes influence plant growth and adaptation, which is key to agricultural productivity.
The One Health Innovation Lab, established at the Innovation Park in Stillwater earlier this year, provides DNA sequencing services to OSU scientists. Until now, the university’s wheat breeding program has outsourced its gene sequencing to external institutions due to a lack of local technology and infrastructure to support such capabilities.
“This year, we have been working with OSU Agriculture to bring in the sequencing technologies and do a test run to ensure everything is working well,” said Samuel Jeyasingh, One Health Innovation Lab director. “Next year, we anticipate handling thousands of seeds and fully working with the OSU wheat breeding program to genotype breeding materials, which will allow us to work much faster.”
For the pilot program, Charles Chen, associate professor in the OSU Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and member of the Wheat Improvement Team, worked with the One Health Innovation Lab to re-genotype seeds from OSU’s wheat breeding program that have already been sequenced. The re-genotyping ensures the OSU lab receives the same data as the external institutions.
“Breeding has been the primary tool for creating new wheat varieties, but breeding cycles are very long,” Chen said. “Creating a new winter wheat variety takes about 10 to 15 years. Sequencing technology can potentially cut this time in half by allowing us to predict the genetic potential of upcoming varieties.
“Having someone here 100% committed to obtaining the genetic information is highly important and has been the missing piece to our research on campus. It’s a vital piece of accurate information that allows us to expedite the breeding process while ensuring precision,” he continued.
The laboratory will sequence plant, animal and human genetic materials and establish a biobank in which the materials and their data will be stored and available to scientists. Another part of the lab’s mission is to further One Health education by conducting seminars and outreach education and working closely with OSU’s academic departments and industry partners.
“We are trying to bring partners together to accomplish our mission of advancing health across boundaries, meaning to not work in silos but to have interdisciplinary, collaborative efforts,” Jeyasingh said. “Part of my job is seeking out institutions and identifying what needs they might have that we can fill. Being the bridge between research domains is what One Health is.”
Sequencing genetic materials on the OSU campus opens a world of opportunities, Jeyasingh said, including the ability to prevent disease outbreaks.
“One Health emphasizes the deep interconnection among plants, animals and humans,” he said. “Imagine a child playing in the park with a dog. If that dog picks up a tick with a pathogen, and the tick bites the child, the potential health impact becomes evident. This scenario showcases how health is interconnected across species.”
Jeyasingh added that the lab could work with other entities to sequence the DNA from the tick to identify the pathogen.
“This could eliminate the rabbit hole sometimes involved in identifying diseases,” Jeyasingh said. “It is vital to understand and address these connections to protect and enhance the health of all living beings.”
Brett Carver, professor and wheat genetics chair in the OSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, said new and improved locally adapted wheat varieties bring value to the food industry by providing a key ingredient to sustaining the nation’s food supply, and success in one breeding program is leveraged by successes in others with similar objectives.
“Over 75 years of continuous wheat breeding at OSU has resulted in one of the deepest and more commercially relevant pools of bread wheat genetics in this country, if not the world,” Carver said. “A divergent genetic base is the fuel that drives innovation in any wheat or plant breeding program. We can drive the OSU wheat breeding program long and hard, but better in-house sequencing capability gives us the crucial ability to see where we have been and where we are going.”
Groundbreaking developments in wheat breeding will be housed in OSU's new Agronomy Discovery Center as part of the Innovation Park. The project will upgrade and modernize OSU wheat research facilities, equipment and technology. A designated fundraising initiative is underway. Learn more about supporting the project by calling Megan Smith at 405-747-1977.
OSU Ag Research is Oklahoma's premier research and technology development agency in agriculture, natural resources and the life sciences.
