Mitch Tuinstra
Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics
Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research

Area:  Translational genomics for crop improvement

Mailing Address:
Department of Agronomy
1150 Lilly Hall of Life Sciences
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1150

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Biography:

Dr. Tuinstra earned his bachelor's degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., his master's degree in molecular and quantitative genetics from Purdue and his doctoral degree in plant breeding and genetics, also from Purdue. He held research and teaching assistant positions at Purdue from 1991-97, then spent 10 years at Kansas State University before returning to Purdue. He has received the Gamma Sigma Delta Early Career Award at Kansas State University and was awarded the Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research at Purdue.  

His areas of research are corn and sorghum genetics and plant breeding with active programs in crop genetic resources and technology development. He provides statewide leadership in maize improvement, developing close relationships with industry throughout the United States.

Research Areas:

Germplasm characterization and trait development for drought and thermal tolerance in maize

Heat and drought stress are the most important factors affecting crop production around the world.  As much as one-third of the corn production in the United States experiences yield-reducing stress conditions at some point during the growing season.  Climate specialists suggest that these conditions may become more common and severe if current conditions persist and future climate predictions are accurate.

Many candidate genes associated with improved stress tolerance have already been identified in model species (Arabidopsis, rice, barley … etc.); however, the role of these genes in field crops under field conditions is not well understood.  Studies are being initiated to determine their role of these genes in expression of stress tolerance in corn using reverse genetic strategies (e.g. TILLING). 

Develop acetolactate synthase (ALS) and acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC) herbicide tolerance traits in sorghum for use in managing grassy weeds and witchweed (Striga spp) infestations in the United States and Africa. 

Weed management is one of the most important considerations impacting sorghum production today.  Weed infestations in the United States have been shown to reduce grain sorghum yields by up to 55% depending on time of infestation and weed pressure.  Competition with weedy plant species also reduces grain quality, increases insect and disease pressures, and creates difficulty in harvest operations.  In Africa, witchweed (Striga spp.) infestations are a growing menace for cereal crop producers across the continent.  We have identified sorghum genotypes with tolerance to ALS and ACCase inhitibiting herbicides over the last 5 years to address these problems.  Significant efforts are focused on transferring these technologies into sorghum varieties and hybrids adapted for production in developed and developing countries. One new and very promising Striga management technology developed in the program involves use of herbicide tolerance traits for managing this weed.  Low-dose imazapyr or metsulfuron seed coatings applied to herbicide tolerant varieties have been shown to be highly effective in controlling Striga infestation in field and greenhouse trials.  Locally-adapted varieties that couple host-plant resistance to Striga with herbicide seed treatments are being developed to identify the combination of traits that maximizes the efficacy of control.

Most Significant Publications:

Wu X, Zhao R, Wang D, Bean SR, Seib PA, McLauren JS, Madl RL, Tuinstra MR, Lenz MC, Wang D. 2007. Factors Impacting Ethanol Production from Sorghum. Cereal-Chemistry 84: 130-136.

White PM, Rice CW, Baldock JA, Tuinstra MR. 2007. Soil biological properties following additions of bmr mutant grain sorghum. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39: 1518-1532.

Wu X, Zhao R, Wang D, Bean SR, Seib PA, Tuinstra MR, Campbell M, O’Brien A. 2006.  Effects of Amylose, Corn Protein and Corn Fiber Contents on Production of Ethanol from Starch Rich Media. Cereal Chemistry 83: 569-575.

Xie XJ, Teh Y, Liang S, Seib PA, Tuinstra MR. 2006. Wet-Milling of Grain Sorghum of Varying Seed Size Without Steeping. Starch/Staerke 58: 353-359.

Kriegshauser TD, Tuinstra MR, Hancock JD. 2006. Variation in nutritional value of sorghum hybrids with contrasting seed weight characteristics and comparisons with maize in broiler chicks. Crop Science 46: 695-699.

Bean SR, Chung OK, Tuinstra MR, Pedersen JF, Erpelding J. 2006. Evaluation of the single kernel characterization system (SKCS) for measurement of sorghum grain attributes. Cereal Chemistry 83:108-113.

Kresovich S, Barbazuk B, Bedell JA., Borrell A, Buell CR, Burke J, Clifton S, Cordonnier-Pratt MM, Cox S, Dahlberg J, Erpelding J, Fulton TM., Fulton B, Fulton L, Gingle AR, Hash CT, Huang Y, Jordan D, Klein PE, Klein RR, Magalhaes J, McCombie R, Moore P, Mullet JE, Ozias-Akins P, Paterson AH, Porter K, Pratt L, Roe B, Rooney W, Schnable PS. Stelly DM, Tuinstra MR, Ware D, Warek U. 2005. Toward sequencing the sorghum genome: a U.S. National Science Foundation-Sponsored workshop report. Plant Physiology 138: 1898-1902.

Nagaraj N, Reese JC, Tuinstra MR, Smith CM, St Amand P, Kirkham MB, Kofoid KD, Campbell LR, Wilde GE. 2005. Molecular mapping of sorghum genes expressing tolerance to damage by greenbug (Homoptera: Aphididae). Journal of Economic Entomology 98:595–602.

Tesso TT, Tuinstra MR, Claflin LE.  2005.  Analysis of stalk rot resistance and genetic diversity among drought tolerant sorghum genotypes. Crop Science 45:645-652.

Tesso TT, Tuinstra MR, Claflin LE.  2004.  Estimation of combining ability for resistance to Fusarium stalk rot in grain sorghum. Crop Science 44: 1195-1199. 

Yu, J. Tuinstra MR, Claassen MM, Gordon WB, Witt MD. 2004. Analysis of cold tolerance in sorghum under controlled environment conditions. Field Crops Research 85:21-30. 

Zhana X, Wang D, Tuinstra MR, Bean S, Seib PA, Sund XS. 2003. Ethanol and lactic acid production as affected by sorghum genotype and location. Industrial Crops and Products 18: 245-255.  

Teaching: To be assigned

Professional Experiences:

Awards and Honors:

Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research, 2007
Gamma Sigma Delta – Early Career Award, 2001
International Society of Plant Molecular Biology – Student Travel Award, 1996
Gamma Sigma Delta – The Honor Society of Agriculture, 1994
McKnight Foundation – Doctoral Fellowship, 1994

Education:

Date Joined Staff: October 2007

Last updated:  December, 2007