I. FOREWORD

The Notes in this Newsletter are voluntarily shared information. The data and ideas here are not published, but are presented with the understanding that they will not be used in publications without specific consent of the authors. This is not a refereed journal, and should be treated as "Conversations among Cooperators". Cooperators present here brief technical notes, updates, mutants, segregation ratios, tables of mapping data, developmental and anatomical information and techniques, clones, biochemical functions, and the like. Comprehensive material and analyses are better directed to formal publication. Maize Cooperators have the tradition of sharing information with colleagues, in MNL and in many unheralded conversations, correspondence, and shared stocks and clones. By sharing our research information, we contribute to the advancement of biology and to the power of shared technical knowledge.

As announced in the fall, MNL is now a Virtual Hotletter and Linkletter! Notes submitted at any time go verbatim into MaizeDB as received, flagged as future items for the next issue (http://mnl.maizegdb.org/mnl/71/). We progressively incorporate figures and tables as electronic images, and we link the articles to database objects for user access and for the development of summaries and syntheses such as the Genelist, Maps, and Indexes. In parallel, redacting of copy (editing and formatting) in preparation for the press proceeds by desktop processing. After the deadline passed, the print version of this issue, simply containing the Notes received to that date, plus the Address List and the Stock Center Report, has been finalized and sent to the press. Indexes to Symbols and to Authors and Names cited in this MNL issue are included. Assembly of portions of MNL that represent syntheses of information (e.g., Gene List, Maps, Zealand, Recent Maize Publications) will be done regularly insofar as possible, but on a separate schedule from MNL. Syntheses will be present in MaizeDB, where they can be viewed or printed by MaizeDB users.

Prof. C. H. Li -- a correction: Marc Albertsen informs me that Prof. Li has been seriously ill for several years. The parenthetical statement about Prof. Li in MNL 70, page 30, was incorrect.

Please note the appeal, at the end of the Table of Contents, from Lee Kass and Will Provine, toward an intellectual biography of Barbara McClintock. One key item of new correspondence from 1931, found during their research, is reproduced on page 119 in this issue.

Gifts to the Endowment Fund for support of the Newsletter have grown to nearly $110,000. Please see the listing, in the front of this issue, of donors whose generosity has made this total grow. We are all grateful for the support of our colleagues and of organizations with which we have common interests. Gifts to the Endowment Fund continue to be welcome, to assure that costs of production are met, and are very much appreciated.

The continuity and support necessary for collecting genetic and molecular information from the literature and from individual contributions; evaluating; and preparing gene lists, maps, and similar syntheses, is made possible by the Agricultural Research Service. MaizeDB project, Curator Dr. Mary Polacco. We urge you with strongest enthusiasm to use, assess, and contribute to the database.

Shirley Kowalewski skillfully refined and redacted the copy, twisted diverse electronic sources and exotic scripts to suit, structured indexes, and questioned quality or content, or gave creative advice, at key moments. Beth Bennett contributed with care and diligence to many tasks, including library and literature work, composition, and checking of accuracy and completeness. At University Printing Services, Yvonne Ball and the printshop staff again efficiently ensured the job was done promptly and well.

Details about the 1998 Maize Genetics Conference, at Grand Geneva Lodge, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, March 19-22, 1998, will be available on the MaizeDB Web at the earliest date, and information will be mailed to former attendees in November 1997; others may request the mailing by providing their address to Coe. The program and abstracts are provided by Bill Sheridan. Electronic submission and "Webification" of abstracts for the 1996 and 1997 Maize Conference by Mary Polacco has been successful, and will be used for the Conference. The Steering Committee for the 1998 Maize Genetics Conference is:

Ben Bowen Kelly Dawe Curt Hannah
Barbara Kloeckener Jane Langdale Mike McMullen, Chair
Paul Sisco Julie Vogel Cliff Weil
Ex officio: Karen Cone, Treasurer Marty Sachs, local coordinator

Preparing notes for the next issue (Number 72, 1998)?
SEND YOUR ITEMS ANYTIME; NOW IS YOUR BEST TIME.
See details inside the back cover.

Your clone can be mapped, and deposited in the Maize Probe Bank. Please see the Clone Information Sheet in the back of this issue.

If you would like to subscribe to this Newsletter please use the form in the back of this issue.

Editor Coe


Please Note: Notes submitted to the Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter may be cited only with consent of the authors

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