Greetings,
Apparently, field-grown maize in the USA is contaminated with
one or more bacterial species that the Japanese government wishes to
keep out of Japan. Therefore, I have been unable to send my
collaborator in Japan seeds of a maize mutant I isolated or even of
the parental line, B73. (Actually, I was able to send him some seed
provided he does all of his experiments in totally hermetically
sealed containers, only with seedlings, and autoclaves when
finished. No way to do genetics!). It srikes me that there must be
international sharing of germplasm: how is that done? Is there no way
to grow a few maize plants axenically? Or some way to remove the
bacteria from the seed? It would be helpful even if he could get B73
to use in Japan without constraint. Any suggestions or leads welcomed!
Thanks,
Tobias
--
_ ____ __ ____
/ \ / / \ / \ \ Tobias I. Baskin
/ / / / \ \ \ Biology Department
/_ / __ /__ \ \ \__ 611 N. Pleasant St.
/ / / \ \ \
University of Massachusetts
/ / / \ \ \
Amherst, MA, 01003
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