The Marto Report

This document includes as Enclosure (1) the revised version of the Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Activites, Incentives and Evaluations' Final Report, also known as The Marto Report.“The Marto and Powers' Reports were written in the late 1980's by committees of NPS faculty members. The Reports were endorsed by the Superintendent and the Provost. The Marto Report argues that NPS requires a portfolio of faculty. The Report recognizes that NPS needs among its faculty individuals who focus on interdisciplinary and applied work -- efforts which might not result in publications in refereed journals. The Powers Report recommends methods for assessing scholarly products that are not refereed journal articles....Taken together, these Reports provide the framework and policies needed to develop and maintain an excellent faculty to support the unique programs of research and instruction that exist at NPS. The Deans, Chairs and I intend to follow the spirit of the policies outlined in the two Reports.” (From an 03 August 1995 Memorandum by Provost Richard Elster

A genomic approach to elucidating grass flower development

In sugarcane (Saccharum sp) as with other species of grass, at a certain moment of its life cycle the vegetative meristem is converted into an inflorescence meristem which has at least two distinct inflorescence branching steps before the spikelet meristem terminates in the production of a flower (floret). In model dicotyledonous species such successive conversions of meristem identities and the concentric arrangement of floral organs in specific whorls have both been shown to be genetically controlled. Using data from the Sugarcane Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) Project (SUCEST) database, we have identified all sugarcane proteins and genes putatively involved in reproductive meristem and flower development. Sequence comparisons of known flower-related genes have uncovered conserved evolutionary pathways of flower development and flower pattern formation between dicotyledons and monocotyledons, such as some grass species. We have paid special attention to the analysis of the MADS-box multigene family of transcription factors that together with the APETALA2 (AP2) family are the key elements of the transcriptional networks controlling plant reproductive development. Considerations on the evolutionary developmental genetics of grass flowers and their relation to the ABC homeotic gene activity model of flower development are also presented.<br>Como na maior parte das gramíneas, num determinado momento do seu ciclo de vida, o meristema vegetativo da cana-de-açúcar é convertido em meristema reprodutivo. Em cana-de-açúcar há pelo menos duas conversões meristemáticas distintas entre a indução para o florescimento e a formação do florete. Em espécies dicotiledôneas modelo, a conversão sucessiva das identidades dos meristemas, bem como o arranjo concêntrico de órgãos florais são controlados geneticamente. Todos os genes e/ou proteínas sabidamente envolvidos no desenvolvimento floral foram anotados e identificados no banco de dados do SUCEST (Sugarcane EST Project). Comparações de seqüências entre genes reconhecidamente envolvidos no controle do desenvolvimento floral revelaram a conservação evolutiva entre os mecanismos de formação do padrão de desenvolvimento floral entre mono- e dicotiledôneas, bem como entre as gramíneas. Nossos estudos se concentraram na análise das famílias multigênicas dos fatores de transcrição do tipo MADS-box e AP2, uma vez que estes têm um papel importante na regulação do desenvolvimento reprodutivo vegetal. Também são apresentadas considerações sobre a genética evolutiva do desenvolvimento das flores de gramíneas e sua relação com o modelo ABC do desenvolvimento floral