Plant Biotechnology and Genetics: Principles, Techniques and Applications

LIFE BOX 7.1. WAYNE PARROTT

Wayne Parrott, Professor, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences,
University of Georgia

Wayne Parrott

It was almost a given that I would have a

career in agriculture—my parents were

in agribusiness, and both sets of grand-

parents lived on a farm. Thus, upon

graduating from high school, I started

studying towards a degree in agronomy

at the University of Kentucky.

It was not just the cultivation of plants

that I found interesting—the plants

themselves and their amazing diversity

were just as fascinating—as was the

underlying genetic basis behind all the

diversity. Growing up in Central

America, genetic diversity was all

around me, as was access to “new and

improved” varieties that breeders were

releasing to farmers all the time. A key

moment came while visiting my

parents, who were living in Honduras

at the time, and got invited to visit a

banana breeding station. Relating the

experience to the Agronomy Club

advisor back at Kentucky, he immedi-

ately offered me a job as a student

worker in his wheat-breeding program.

After that point, the genetic modification

of crops—rather than their actual

cultivation—became my chief interest.

The next key moment came when I saw

my first plant growing in a test tube—it

was so fascinating, there would never

be any turning back. Coincidentally,

the public press was filled with reports

of the first gene transfer into a plant

(the “sunbean”) and all the expected

potential to improve agriculture as that

technology developed. I was irreversibly

hooked.

Following graduation, I went to the

University of Wisconsin for graduate

school in Plant Breeding and Genetics,

where I got to indulge in studying all

those aspects of plant genetics I found

so fascinating. After graduation, I

returned to the University of Kentucky

as a postdoc. By that time, the foun-

dation for plant tissue culture and

genetic engineering technology had

advanced to point it was a fruitful area

of research. From there, I joined the

faculty at the University of Georgia,

where the technology and I have contin-

ued to grow up together.

Breakthroughs and major developments

have not come continuously—they are

interspersed with lots of experiments

that don’t work out or hypotheses that

easily get disproved. Yet, when a tech-

nological hurdle is overcome, or when

there is a new discovery—there is a

rush and excitement that carries over to

the next one. Looking back on my

career, it is these moments that I most

remember and collectively lead to a

feeling of accomplishment.

LIFE BOX 7.1. WAYNE PARROTT 189