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Graduate Student, PhD Candidate
Dept. Plant Breeding and Genetics
Cornell Univeristy
Institute of Genomic Diveristy
175 Biotechnology Building
Ithaca, NY 14853-2703
E-mail:
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Tel: (607) 255-1809
Fax: (607) 255-6249
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Research Interest
I am interested in the possibility to use a combination of traditional and molecular breeding methods to explore the potential of diversity in germplasm pools. I want to utilize field work, molecular biology and statical approaches to dissect complex traits in maize.
The focus of my PhD dissertation is on heterosis in maize. Heterosis, hybrid vigor, the increased fitness of a hybrid over its parents has played an important role in the crop yields of today. In the 1930s when corn hybrids were first commercially grown, corn production was 53 million Mg. This number has increased over the years to 332.7 million Mg due to improved hybrid development and increased plant density.
Heterosis is the opposite of inbreeding depression, which occurs with increasing homozygosity. The phenomenon of a hybrid’s increased superiority over its parents is not clearly understood. The interactions between genes possibly responsible for heterosis are believed to be explained by dominance, overdominance, and epistasis.
Here we want to further test hypotheses on heterosis by using hybrids made from the NAM population to examine the interaction between regions of the genome contributing to yield and the genomic characteristics such as recombination rate, divergence, gene density and population genetic history.
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Education
2008 - Present PhD Graduate Student, Plant Breeding and Genetics
Cornell Unisersity, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Advisors: Edward Buckler, Tim Setter, Margret Smith
2006 - 2008 MSc, Plant Breeding and Genetics
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology
2002 - 2006 BSc, Horticulture (minor Plant Breeding and Biotechnology)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
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Undergraduate Research
2006 Optimize in vitro culture procedure of melon, cucumber and zucchini ovaries to produce haploid plants.
Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics
Supervisor: Dr. Elizabeth Earle
2005 Evaluate the plant growth of gai (gibberellic acid insensitive) mutant carnations and to observe the response
of exogenous gibberellin.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Crop Science
Supervisor: Dr. Li-hua Zhu
2004 Optimize the procedure for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of sesame using different sesame
cultivars and explants as well as Agrobacterium strains.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Crop Science
Supervisor: Dr. Beatrice Ware
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Publications
Buckler, E.S., Holland, J.B., Bradbury, P.J., Acharya, C. B., Brown, P.J., Browne, C., Ersoz, E., Flint-Garcia, S., Garcia, A., Glaubitz, J.C., Goodman, M.M., Harjes, C., Guill, K., Kroon, D.E., Larsson, S., Lepak, N.K., Li, H., Mitchell, S.E., Pressoir, G., Peiffer, J. A., Rosas, M.O., Rocheford, T.R., Romay, M.C., Romero, S., Salvo, S., Villeda, H.S., da Silva, H.S., Sun, Q., Tian, F., Upadyayula, N., Ware, D., Yates, H., Yu, J., Zhang, Z., Kresovich, S., McMullen M. D. 2009. The Genetic Architecture of Maize Flowering Time.
Science, 325: 714-718.
S. J. Larsson Dwarf8 polymorphisms associated with variation in flowering time in maize (Zea mays L.) Epsilon.slu.se
S. J. Larsson Evaluation of the dao1 gene as a selectable marker in transformation of apple rootstock M26 as well as transformaion of a vector containing GA20 oxidase gene into Agrobacterium. Epsilon.slu.se volume:2007:6 ID code: 2289
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Presentations
Cinta Romay, Sara Larsson, Jason Peiffer, Moira Sheehan, Feng Tian, Peter Bradbury, Michael McMullen, James Holland, Doreen Ware and Edward Buckler. Unraveling a flowering time QTL on chromosome 8. Poster# 241 presented at the 52nd Annual Maize Genetics Conference in Riva del Garda, Italy March 18-21, 2010
Sara J Larsson and Edward S Buckler. Lessons From Dwarf8 on the Strengths and Wealnesses of Structures Association Mapping. Poster# 214 presented at the 52nd Annual Maize Genetics Conference in Riva del Garda, Italy March 18-21, 2010
Sara J Larsson, Maize Diversity Project and Edward S Buckler. Association of Dwarf8 Polymorphisms with variation in Flowering Time in a Diverse Population of Maize. Poster# 177 presented at the 51st Annual Maize Genetics Conference in St Charles, Illinois March 12-15, 2009
Nick Lepak, Maize Diversity Project, Michael Gore, Sara Larsson, Jason Peiffer and Edward Buckler. NAM QTL for Fall Armyworm and Banvel Resistance in Maize. Poster# 217 presented at the 51st Annual Maize Genetics Conference in St Charles, Illinois March 12-15, 2009
S. J. Larsson and E. S. Buckler. Association of Dwarf8 Polymorphisms with Variation in Flowering Time in a Diverse Population of Maize (Zea mays L.) Presented at the Sixth Annual Symposium in Plant Biology in Amherst, MASS. October 8, 2008
S. J. Larsson, E. S. Ersoz, H. Li, P. Bradbury and Maize Diveristy Project. Dwarf8 polymarphisms associated with flowering time variation in Maize. Poster# 170 presented at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference in Washington, DC. February 27 - March 3, 2008
D. E. Costich, M. Denton, M. Kraft, S. Larsson, M. Oak, E. Ploetz, M. Ryskin, G. Temnykh, S. Wu and E. Buckler. Maize Genetics at Cornell Univeristy: A rich history and an exciting future. Presented at Cornell University's Plant Breeding and Genetics Centennial Celebration. July, 2007
L. H. Zhu, S. Zhang, S. J. Larsson and M. Welander. Introduction of Arabidopsis gai gene into carnation caused early flowering. Presented at the XXVVII International Horticultural Congress in Seoul, Korea. August, 13 - 19, 2006.
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