SHERRET S. CHASE (1918-2021)

Inscription

HYBRID CORN RESULTS FROM THE CROSS OF TWO INBRED PARENTS, EACH OF WHICH IS DEVELOPED BY SELFING (IN-BREEDING) A CORN LINE FOR 6-8 GENERATIONS UNTIL IT IS MOSTLY HOMOZYGOUS.

CORN PLANTS ARE DIPLOID, WITH ONE SET OF CHROMOSOMES COMING FROM THE MALE SIDE AND ONE SET FROM THE FEMALE SIDE IN NATURE. ONE CORN PLANT IN ONE THOUSAND MIGHT OCCUR AS A HAPLOID, THAT IS, HAVING ONLY ONE SET OF CHROMOSOMES COMING FROM THE FEMALE PLANT. THE SELF-POLLINATED PROGENY OF HAPLOID WOULD BE A HOMOZYGOUS DIPLOID, WHICH IS GENETICALLY EQUIVALENT TO AN INBRED LINE.

WHILE COMPLETING HIS PH.D. AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY, SHERRET CHASE RECOGNIZED THE POTENTIAL OF USING HAPLOIDS FOR CORN BREADING. DR. CHASE CONTINUED HIS PIONEERING WORK IN 1947 AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, WHERE HE BECAME THE FIRST SCIENTIST TO PRODUCE HOMOZYGOUS PURE-BREEDING DIPLOID CORN PLANTS FROM HAPLOIDS. IN 1954 HE JOINED THE DEKALB AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION WHERE (HERE) HE BECAME THE FIRST TO DEVELOP DOUBLED HAPLOID (DH) CORN LINES USED IN A COMMERCIAL HYBRID (DEKALB 640). BUT IT TOOK 30+ YEARS, AND OTHER ADVANCES IN BREEDING TECHNOLOGY, BEFORE THE BENEFITS OF THE DH METHOD BECAME FULLY REALIZED AND WIDELY UTILIZED.

TODAY THE DH METHOD PIONEERED BY DR. CHASE IS WIDELY USED BY PLANT BREEDERS TO ACCELERATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF INBRED CORN PARENT LINES IN JUST TWO GENERATIONS. THE FASTER BREEDING PROCESS AND INCREASED GENETIC GAINS BENEFIT FARMERS WORLD-WIDE. FOR HIS DH INNOVATIONS, CHASE HAS BEEN REFERRED TO AS THE “FATHER OF DOUBLED HAPLOIDS.”

SPONSORED BY
DEKALB AREA AGRICULTURAL HERITAGE ASSOCIATION INC. (DAAHA.ORG), WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION AND THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SEPTEMBER 2022