For Comments or Questions Contact: Webmaster
Last modified
 
Charles M. Taliaferro
Oklahoma State University
Regents Professor Emeritus, Department of Plant & Soil Sciences
Address: 368 Agriculture Hall, OSU, Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-9627 Fax: 405-744-5269
Email: charles.taliaferro@.okstate.edu
URL: http://pss.okstate.edu/personnel/faculty/taliaferro.html
Ph.D., Plant Breeding and Cytogenetics, 1966, Texas A&M University  
Postdoctoral:
Research Emphasis: Genetic enhancement of forage and turf grasses; genetic mechanisms of freeze tolerance in grasses
Related Activities: Grass germplasm acquisition, evaluation, and conservation; Biofuel feedstock development
 
Research Description:

The focus of my research program has been on the genetic improvement of grasses for forage, turf and biofuel feedstock. Related activities and research supporting this central goal range from germplasm acquisition, evaluation and enhancement to study of fundamental genetic mechanisms. More specific goals of past and ongoing research are to: 1) incrementally improve selected traits in basic grass germplasm collections and breeding populations, 2) characterize kinds and magnitudes of genetic variation in populations, 3) identify best breeding procedures, and 4) apply molecular genetic and cell biology technologies to cultivar performance enhancement. Molecular genetic and cell biology research is collaborative with other OSU faculty. This research has focused on stress tolerance mechanisms in grasses with emphasis on stress caused by low temperature and disease. Cold-regulated proteins and genes have been identified and isolated from bermudagrass, Cynodon sp. Current research seeks to characterize the roles of these products in freeze tolerance and to identify additional components and processes of the operative genetic mechanism(s).
 
Recent Publications:

Taliaferro CM (2003) Bermudagrass. In Casler MD, Duncan RR (Eds.) Turfgrass biology, genetics, and cytotaxonomy. Sleeping Bear Press, Chelsea MI. (In Press).

de los Reyes BG, Taliaferro CM, Anderson MP, Anderson JA, Melcher U, McMaugh S (2001) Induced expression of class II chitinase during cold acclimation and dehydration of bermudagrass (Cynodon sp.). Theor Appl Genet 103:297-306.

Anderson MP, Taliaferro CM, Martin DL, Anderson CA (2001) Comparative DNA profiling of U-3 turf bermudagrass strains. Crop Sci 41:1184-1189.

Assefa S, Taliaferro CM, Anderson MP, de los Reyes BG, Edwards RM (1998) Diversity among Cynodon accessions and taxa based on DNA amplification fingerprinting. Genome 42:465-474.

Anderson MP, Taliaferro CM, Gatschet M, Reyes B, Assefa A (1998) Molecular identification of cold acclimation genes in, and phylogenetic relationships among, Cynodon species. p115-134 In Sticklen, M. B. and Kenna, M. P. (Eds), Recent cellular and molecular genetics approaches to turfgrass improvement, A turfgrass biotechnology workshop, Aug. 11-13, 1996, East Lansing, MI.
 
Selected Additional Publications: