Ed Buckler
Adjunct Associate Professor		 Ed Buckler

Phone

607-255-4520
Fax: 607-255-6249

Address

Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics
159 Biotechnology Building
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2703

Email

Web Sites

Lab Web Site
Department Profile

Research Description

Although tremendous strides have been made in understanding how individual genes control simple traits, modern plant geneticists still face the significant challenge of identifying and describing the genes and alleles that control complex traits [quantitative trait loci (QTL)]. My laboratory uses functional genomic approaches to dissect complex traits in maize and other plants. Our current focus is developing association analyses that exploit the natural diversity of the maize genome to map at very high resolutions. This includes the creation of large scale mapping populations.

Any useful variants of important agronomic genes that result from these plant genome studies need to be applied to future breeding strategies. Through various collaborative efforts, we are applying our research to maize breeding, including efforts to improve kernel quality and increase tolerance to soil-related abiotic stresses.

Our work includes three main areas of research: First, we are developing a platform to rapidly dissect complex traits in maize by utilizing both association and linkage based approaches. To conduct these analyses, we have developed linkage and association populations that capture much of the natural variation inherent in the maize genome. We are now phenotyping these populations extensively, and surveying tens of thousands of candidate gene sequences. The development and adaptation of novel statistical genetic approaches is also required to study these diverse mapping populations.

The second aspect of our work is trait dissection. A full range of genomic and field genetic approaches are being used to identify alleles involved in nitrogen efficiency, aluminum tolerance, and kernel quality (starch, oil, and nutrients). Targeted alleles are those that can reduce the environmental impact of maize agriculture and provide a more nutritional plant. RNA and metabolite profiling and other genomic approaches are being applied to dissect these traits.

Finally, we are developing improved bioinformatics tools that integrate public databases with genomic diversity data and agronomic data.

Selected Publications
  • Yu, J., Pressoir, G., Briggs, W.H., Bi, I.V., Yamasaki, M., Doebley, J.F., McMullen, M.D., Gaut, B.S., Holland, J.B., Kresovich, S., and Buckler, E.S. 2006.  A Unified Mixed-Model Method for Association Mapping Accounting for Multiple Levels of Relatedness.  Nature Genetics.  PDF
  • Jianming Yu and Edward S Buckler. 2006. Genetic association mapping and genome organization of maize. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 17:155–160 PDF
  • William F. Tracy, Sherry R. Whitt, and Edward S. Buckler. 2006. Recurrent Mutation and Genome Evolution: Example of Sugary1 and the Origin of Sweet Maize. Crop Sci 46(S1)  PDF
  • Matias Kirst, Rico Caldo, Paula Casati, Gene Tanimoto, Virginia Walbot, Roger P. Wise, and Edward S. Buckler. 2006. Genetic diversity contribution to errors in short oligonucleotide microarray analysis. Plant Biotechnology Journal 4:489–498 PDF
  • Buckler, E. S., B. S. Gaut, M. D. McMullen.  2006.  Molecular and Functional Diversity of Maize.  Current Opinions in Plant Biol.  PDF
  • Buckler, E. S., M. M. Goodman, T. P. Holtsford, J. F. Doebley, and J. Sanchez G.   2006. The phylogeography of Zea mays. Maydica.  PDF
  • Szalma, S. J., E. S. Buckler, M. E. Snook, and M. D. McMullen. 2005. Association analysis of flavonoid structural loci for maysin and chlorogenic acid synthesis in maize silks. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 110:1324 - 1333.  PDF
  • Fukunaga, K., J. Hill, Y. Vigouroux, Y. Matsuoka, J.S. G., K. Liu, E.S. Buckler, and J. Doebley.  2005.  Genetic diversity and population structure of teosinte. Genetics 169: 2241-2254.  PDF
  • Buckler, E.S. and N.M. Stevens*. 2005. Maize Origins, Domestication, and Selection. In Darwin's Harvest (eds. T.J. Motley N. Zerega, and H. Cross), pp. 67-90. Columbia University Press, New York.  PDF
  • Vollbrecht E, Springer P, Goh L, Buckler ES and RA Martienssen. 2005. Architecture of floral branch systems in maize and related grasses. Nature 436: 1119-1126.  PDF
  • Flint-Garcia, S.A., A.-C. Thuillet, J.M. Yu, G. Pressoir, S.M. Romero, S.E. Mitchell, J. Doebley, S. Kresovich, M.M. Goodman, and E.S. Buckler. 2005. Maize association population: a high resolution platform for QTL dissection. Plant Journal 44: 1054-1064.  PDF
  • Jaiswal, P., J. Ni, I. Yap, D. Ware, W. Spooner, K. Youens-Clark, L. Ren, C. Liang, W. Zhao, K. Ratnapu, B. Faga, P. Canaran, M. Fogleman, C. Hebbard, S. Avraham, S. Schmidt, T.M. Casstevens*, E.S. Buckler, L. Stein, and S. McCouch. 2006. Gramene: a bird's eye view of cereal genomes. Nucl. Acids Res. 34: D717-723.  PDF
  • Zhao, W., P. Canaran, R. Jurkuta, T. Fulton, J. Glaubitz, E. Buckler, J. Doebley, B. Gaut, M. Goodman, J. Holland, S. Kresovich, M. McMullen, L. Stein, and D. Ware. 2006. Panzea: a database and resource for molecular and functional diversity in the maize genome. Nucl. Acids Res. 34: D752-757.  PDF
  • Casstevens, T. M. and E. S. Buckler, IV. 2004. GDPC: Connecting Researchers with Multiple Integrated Dada Sources. Bioinformatics 20: 2839 – 2840. PDF
  • Wilson, L., S. Rinehart-Whitt, A. M. Ibanez, T. Rocheford, M. Goodman and E. S. Buckler, IV. 2004. Dissection of maize kernel composition and starch production by candidate gene association. Plant Cell 16: 2719-2733. PDF
  • Churchill, G.A., and Complex Trait Consortium. 2004. The Collaborative Cross, a community resource for the genetic analysis of complex traits. Nature Genetics 36: 1133-1137. PDF
  • Goode, M., K. Strimmer, A. Drummond, E. S. Buckler, and A. Rodrigo. 2004. A Brief Introduction to the Phylogenetic Analysis Library, Version 1.5. In Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology (Y.-P. P. Chen, ed.) 29:175-179. PDF
  • Liu, K., M. M. Goodman, S. V. Muse, J. S. Smith, E. S. Buckler, and J. F. Doebley. 2003. Genetic structure and diversity among maize inbred lines as inferred from DNA microsatellites. Genetics 165:2117-2128. PDF
  • Jaenicke-Després, Viviane, Edward S. Buckler, Bruce D. Smith, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Alan Cooper, John Doebley, and Svante Pääbo. 2003. Early allelic selection in maize as revealed by ancient DNA. Science 302:1206-1208. PDF
  • Du, Chunguang, Edward Buckler, and Spencer Muse. 2003. Development of a maize molecular evolutionary genomic database. Comparative and Functional Genomics 4: 246-249. PDF
  • Whitt, S. R. and E. S. Buckler, IV. 2003. Using natural allelic diversity to evaluate gene function. In Plant Functional Genomics: Methods and Protocols (Grotewald, E., ed.). Humana Press.PDF
  • Flint-Garcia, S. A., J. M. Thornsberry, and E. S. Buckler, IV. 2003. Structure of linkage disequilibrium in plants. Annual Review of Plant Biology 54:357-374. PDF
  • Whitt, S. R., Larissa M. Wilson, Maud I. Tenaillon, Brandon S. Gaut and Edward S. Buckler, IV. 2002. Genetic diversity and selection in the maize statch pathway. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 12959-12962. PDF
  • Rauh, B, C. Basten, and E. S. Buckler, IV. 2002. Quantitative trait loci analysis of growth response to varying nitrogen sources in Arabidopsis. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 104: 743-750. PDF
  • Matusuoka, Yoshihiro, Yves Vigouroux, Major M.Goodman, Jesus Sanchez G., Edward S. Buckler, IV, and John Doebley. 2002. A single domestication for maize shown by multilocus microsatellite genotyping. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 6080-6084. PDF
  • Buckler, Edward S., IV, and J. Thornsberry. 2002. Plant moleculer diversity and applications to genomics. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 5: 107-111. PDF
  • Remington, D. L., J. Thornsberry, Y. Matsuoka, L. Wilson, S. Rinehart-Whitt, J. Doebley, S. Kresovich, M. M. Goodman, and E. S. Buckler, IV. 2001. Structure of linkage disequilibrium and phenotypic associations in the maize genome. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 11479-11484. PDF SAS script
  • Buckler, E. S., IV, J. M. Thornsberry, and Stephen Kresovich. 2001. Molecular diversity, structure and domestication of grasses. Genetical Research 77: 213-218. PDF
  • Thornsberry, J. M., M. M. Goodman, J. Doebley, S. Kresovich, D. Nielsen, and E. S. Buckler, IV. 2001. Dwarf8 polymorphisms associate with variation in flowering time. Nature Genetics 28: 286-289. PDF
  • Bennetzen, J., E. Buckler, IV, V. Chandler, J. Doebley, J. Dorweiler, B. Gaut, M. Freeling, S. Hake, E. Kellogg, R. S. Poethig, V. Walbot, and S. Wessler. 2001. Genetic evidence and the origin of maize. Latin American Antiquity 12:84-86.
  • Buckler, E. S., IV, T. L. Phelps, C. S. Keith Buckler, R. K. Dawe, J. F. Doebley, and T. P. Holtsford. 1999. Meiotic drive of chromosomal knobs reshaped the maize genome. Genetics 153:415-426. PDF
  • Lawton-Rauh, A. W., E. S. Buckler IV, and M. D. Purugganan. 1999. Patterns of molecular evolution among paralogous floral homeotic genes. Mol. Biol. Evol. 16: 1037-1045. PDF
  • Qing, L., E. S. Buckler IV, S. Muse, and J. C. Walker. 1999. Molecular evolution of type 1 serine/threonine protein phosphatases. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12: 57-66. [Abstract | Full Text in PDF]
  • Buckler, E. S., IV, D. M. Pearsall, and T. P. Holtsford. 1998. Climate, plant ecology, and Central Mexican Archaic subsistence. Current Anthropology 39: 152-164. [Abstract | Full Text in PDF]
  • Buckler, E. S., IV, A. Ippolito, and T. P. Holtsford. 1997. The evolution of ribosomal DNA: divergent paralogues and phylogenetic implications. Genetics 145: 821-832. Abstract
  • McCue, K. A., E. S. Buckler IV, and T. P. Holtsford. 1996. A hierarchical view of genetic structure in the rare annual plant Clarkia springvillensis (Onagraceae). Conservation Biol. 10: 1425-1434. PDF 
  • Buckler, E. S., IV and T. P. Holtsford. 1996. Zea ribosomal repeat evolution and mutation patterns. Mol. Biol. Evol. 13: 612-622. PDF 
  • Buckler, E. S., IV and T. P. Holtsford. 1996. Zea systematics: ribosomal ITS evidence. Mol. Biol. Evol. 13: 623-632. PDF 
  • Buckler, E. S., IV, D. M. Pearsall, and T. P. Holtsford. 1994. Zinc iodide and centrifugation allow rapid, inexpensive phytolith separation. Phytolitharien Newsletter 8: 2-3. PDF