N. N. Ludidi - Faculty Exchange Report 2019

FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES

Department of Biotechnology
Prof N. N. Ludidi
(Acting Director: Centre of Excellence in Food Security) Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535
South Africa
Tel: +27 (0) 21 959 2750/2215
Fax: +27 (0) 21 959 3505
E-mail: nludidi@uwc.ac.za

October 04th, 2019

The Director
University of the Missouri South African Education Programme 
University of Missouri
Columbia MO 65211

Report on Collaborative Research Visit

Dear Prof Uphoff,

This serves as a formal report on the visit undertaken by Prof Ndiko Ludidi and Dr Marshall Keyster from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri (MU) in the period May 20, 2019 to June 9, 2019.

The purpose of the visit was to explore collaborative research on marama bean (Tylosema esculentum), and to follow up on current collaborative research between Prof Ludidi and Prof Robert Sharp as well as to follow up on current collaborative research between Dr Keyster and Prof David Mendoza-Cozatl (which was linked to Prof Antje Heese). This also served as an opportunity for Prof Ludidi and Dr Keyster to attend the 2019 IPG Symposium.

Several meetings were held during this period to cover a range of activities pertaining to the collaborative links between plant scientists at MU and UWC.

Research on marama:

The discussions were held between Prof Ludidi, Dr Keyster, Prof Medoza-Cozatl and Prof Scott Peck. They discussed potential areas of cooperation on research into marama bean based on available skills and facilities at MU and UWC. It was agreed that the research would focus on investigating the following:

1. Mineral composition and content of marama seeds and how this changes in response to drought, with focus on differences between Tylosema esculentum and Tylosema fassoglense (two distinct species of marama). This work will be led by Prof Mendoza-Cozatl at MU in collaboration with Dr Keyster and Prof Ludidi.

2. Proteomic and transcriptomic profiling to determine how drought affects the proteome and transcriptome of marama, as a means to identify genes that determine drought tolerance in marama. The focus will be to delineate differences between Tylosema esculentum and Tylosema fassoglense to establish if they have different tolerance levels to drought and understand the molecular pathways that drive such differences.