October 16, 2003

Sally Mackenzie, a UNL plant geneticist, inspects tiny transgenic plants growing in her lab. She heads a research team that has identified a genetic key that triggers male sterility in plants. Male sterile plants don't produce pollen, which makes it easier to breed improved hybrids and produce hybrid seed. Scientists think their technique should work on a broad range of crops and vegetables. IANR Photo.

Scientists find key to genetics of sterile male plants

By Gillian Klucas, IANR News Service

In the agricultural plant world, male sterility often is a good thing.

Male sterile plants don't produce pollen. That makes it easier to breed improved hybrids that yield and perform better, and to produce hybrid seed more economically. Sterility also helps ease concerns that genetically modified crops will spread their enhanced genetic characteristics, such as herbicide resistance, to wild plants.

Scientists have long tried to develop male sterile plants through a variety of techniques, from tapping natural mutations to inducing sterility through radiation and chemical methods. However, sources of male sterility are nonexistent in some crops, such as soybeans, or limited in others, such as corn. And this characteristic can be unstable - some types of sterile plants can revert to fertility, which causes problems for growers.

Sally Mackenzie, a UNL plant geneticist, thinks she's found a genetic key to sterility. It promises to work for a wide range of crops and horticultural products.

Scientists have long known that, in nature, changes in the cells' mitochondrial DNA cause the sterility mutation. Mackenzie and her team followed that genetic trail to re-create the mutation in the lab.

They found a gene in the cell's nucleus that controls genetic changes in the mitochondria, which are the cell's energy producers and also contain DNA. By inserting foreign DNA into this gene, they turned it off, observed changes in the mitochondria and pinpointed which change actually triggers male sterility.

They tracked down the gene in Arabidopsis, which they use as a model plant because its genetic code is known, but their findings have broad potential. Because all plants carry this gene that affects the mitochondria, these Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources scientists can use their technique to trigger male sterility in others.

Mackenzie now is growing transgenic soybeans and tomatoes to search for additional male steriles.

"The really cool thing about this is that once I induce a male sterile, it's stable," Mackenzie said. After removing the foreign DNA that caused the original genetic change, the plant remains sterile. But by eliminating the foreign DNA, the plant is no longer considered transgenic.

"That's the beauty of it," she says. "Nobody has to have any qualms about using GMO technology."

Agriculture would benefit if this method of inducing male sterility proves successful. Mackenzie wants consumers to benefit, too.

She's applying her findings to develop a sterile, seedless green bean that vegetable buyers should appreciate. Without seeds, the pod is more tender and more easily digestible. Sterility also tricks the plant into producing three times the number of pods, increasing yields.

While genetically modified crops have helped reduce the need for agricultural pesticides, consumers have yet to benefit directly, she said.

"If we hit the market with our male steriles and, at the same time, come up with our new seedless bean," Mackenzie said, "I think the consumer is going to say, 'This is nice engineering.'"

Researchers hope to work with an agribusiness to make sterile males commercially available in a variety of crops. The university has filed for a provisional patent on their technique.

Mackenzie also is looking toward human diseases.

"The recombination that we're looking at in plant mitochondria may actually occur in us as well," she said.

Diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and heart conditions may stem from mitochondrial defects that affect one in 8,000 people. As she did in Arabidopsis, Mackenzie is looking for a similar gene in humans that causes mitochondrial changes. If she finds it, researchers could use the same transgenic technique to re-create the genetic defects in mice, a discovery that could launch new explorations in medicine.

Earlier this year, the Nebraska team reported some of its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy helped fund this research, which is conducted in cooperation with IANR's Agricultural Research Division.

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New rates for health insurance announced

Enrollment materials for employees' 2004 NUFlex benefits plan will include some changes in health insurance premiums and coverage, which will take effect Jan. 1.

More details of this plan will be released by e-mail Oct. 16, but some of the details include:

• The coverage category covering both employee and spouse and employee and child or children had a fixed rate for both categories. These groups will be split into separate rates in 2004 to reflect that single employees with children tend to have lower medical expenses than employees with a covered spouse. Within these coverage categories, costs for employee/spouse (low and basic options) and employee/child(ren) (low option) will increase $15-$33 per month.
• · Half of the university's employees will see no increase or an increase of under $2 in monthly health insurance costs.
• Employees with family coverage who elect the low or basic option will see increases in premiums of $35-$55 per month.
• Deductibles for medical care will go up $100 for PPO and non-PPO providers. The annual stop-loss limit will increase by $200 for PPO and non-PPO providers. The copayment for each 30-day drug prescription will stay the same for generic drugs but will increase $2 for brand-name drugs on the primary drug list and $3 for brands not on the primary drug list. The annual deductible for restorative and major dental services will increase $10 for PPO and non-PPO providers, from $25 to $35 for PPO and from $35 to $45 for non-PPO providers.

The goal is to offer a competitive and comprehensive health insurance program while keeping rates at a reasonable level. The university's program is a self-funded plan, which means the university and employees share the cost of the plan. In the university's plan, employees pay about 20 percent of the total cost of health insurance, with the university paying the remaining 80 percent. The rates employees and the university pay are based on employee health claims paid in previous years. These claims have risen dramatically, reflecting a national trend.

Packets for enrollment in the 2004 NUFlex plan will be distributed in mid-November to all NU employees.

For more information, call the UNL Benefits office at 472-2600 or e-mail <benefits@unlnotes.unl.edu> .

2004 Blue Cross Blue Shield medical plan Employee Portion Net Cost per month
Option	Employee Only	Employee/Spouse	Employee/Children	Employee/Family
No coverage	$0	$0	$0	$0
BCBS Low	$39	$83	$65	$117
BCBS Basic	$57	$121	$103	$169
BCBS High	$119	$269	$271	$365
Deductibles
PPO			Non-PPO
Low option: Increase from $800 to $900			Increase from $1,200 to $1,300
Basic option: Increase from $300 to $400			Increase from $500 to $600
High option: Increase from $200 to $300			Increase from $300 to $400
Stop-loss limit
Low option: Increase from $1,600 to $1,800			Increase from $2,000 to $2,200
Medium option: Increase from $1,300 to $1,500			Increase from $1,700 to $1,900
High option: Increase from $1,100 to $1,300			Increase from $1,400 to $1,600

More A PDF document with health plan details can be downloaded at <ht tp://www.nebraska.edu/hr/2004 BenefitChanges.pdf#EmpPortion>.

Reporter tells of covering the war in Iraq

By Kelly Bartling, University Communications

As the world watched U.S. military forces make their way across Iraq, onlookers may have thought the presence of an unprecedented number of "embedded" reporters was giving them a full view of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

But one of those reporters, USA Today's Steve Komarow, says just because journalists were in the trenches doesn't mean viewers and readers got the full story.

"I only was able to report what I saw and what I know, and that was primarily only the American side of the story," Komarow said Oct. 7 at a lecture at the Nebraska Union. "To this day, I have no knowledge of what was going on on the other side. Only one side was covered, and the story is only half told at this point."

Komarow, who was one of more than 250 international reporters who traveled with and reported on the military during the operation, told a mostly student crowd of about 200 that he believes the embedded reporter program was successful, primarily because it let soldiers' families connect with the troops, and it showed a realistic, first-hand view of battle, "up close and personal."

Members of the 1st Marine Division enjoyed having Komarow and several other reporters with them, he said, mostly because they had satellite phones and other sophisticated equipment that could help soldiers communicate with those back home.

"It was really good for morale," he said. "Their families back home quickly figured out from our reports which units we were with and could watch the news and find out where their people were." The units also knew that from Komarow's reports, the unit history could be easily compiled at the operation's end.

"However, I continue to wonder what would have happened if the war had not gone well," he said. "There was a real chance for encountering chemical weapons. What if the American people had been seeing bodies of American men and women? That makes me wonder, would the Pentagon have slammed down the door of censorship? That hasn't been tested real hard."

Komarow's visit to UNL was part of the College Newspaper Readership Program, which is putting newspapers USA Today, The New York Times, Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star into the hands of students, via ASUN. In September, New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse gave a similar lecture on campus. Komarow, like Greenhouse, visited several classrooms and had social engagements before and after the talks.

Komarow said he appreciates traveling and connecting with middle America - far from his usual "beat," having been centered in Berlin for about a decade covering central Europe and Russia, and covering hostile locales like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Students and faculty at Nebraska that day gave him feedback and asked questions that will challenge his reporting.

"I'm still learning about things and how they happened and how they appeared back here during the war," he said. "I and the other reporters were in the same boat. We had a good idea what was going on where we were, but not in the broader picture, or how stories were playing out over here." He said he had no idea at the time how big the Jessica Lynch story was playing back in the states. Lynch was captured by Iraqis and later rescued.

He was also unaware that some media members were becoming celebrities, as the world watched "hours upon hours of driving through desert."

While some of his photos prompted personal stories of discomfort, inconvenience and struggle to gather news and file stories during his field work in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was quick to point out that living without luxuries of electricity, good food, showers and shelter was something the Iraqis and Afghans were more than used to. And he is grateful for emerging from his assignment with his life.

Komarow showed a picture of his friend and colleague Michael Kelly, on assignment for Atlantic Monthly, who was killed just a week after the photo was taken in a jeep accident, and one of several journalists to die in Iraq, along with hundreds of U.S. soldiers. He said he knew he was in danger but felt responsible for telling the story.

He remains neutral on the U.S. presence in Iraq, simply because it's his job.

"The important responsibility I have is to take my own personal prejudices and bury them," he said. "My job is to present a fair picture and come out with the facts and what the public should know as fast and accurately as possible. I have great faith in the American public sorting it out and deciding for themselves."

Komarow is returning to Iraq in a few weeks to cover the reconstruction efforts once he retrieves his satellite equipment and flak jacket from storage. And he asked students and faculty to keep watching his reports in USA Today.

"They often say that journalism is the first draft of history, and the middle and final chapters of this story are being written."