Guayule Genome Decoded »
Yulex senior scientist Katrina Cornish, Ph.D., and colleagues from the USDA’s Agriculture Research Service published a paper yesterday in BMC Plant Biology journal detailing their effort to sequence the complete plastid genome in guayule.
Guayule cells produce latex.
Plastids are major organelles found in the cells of plants and algae. Plastids manufacture and store important chemical compounds used by the cell.
The DNA barcoding study completed by Yulex and USDA ARS scientists allows genetic identification of commercially significant lines of guayule (Latin name: Parthenium argentatum) for the production of latex and related sustainable materials.
Guayule: Then & Now »
In a Salinas, Calif. newspaper we recently came across a great column chronicling the guayule industry in that region before and after th
e bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
With trade from Southeast Asia cut off and rubber essential to the U.S. war effort, the guayule rubber produced in Salinas became a national security issue overnight.
A key difference between guayule then and now was that in the 1940s, the guayule cultivated could only be harvested for its rubber after seven years of growth. Today, 12 to 20 months is all that’s needed for the guayule that Yulex Corporation and its partners cultivate to mature, and it’s harvested once per year with far more rubber latex produced from each plant! (To learn more about guayule’s history, visit the Guayule Timeline at Yulex.com)
It was also around World War II that U.S. scientists discovered how to make synthetic rubber from petroleum-based materials, and once the war ended, the U.S. focused on synthetic rubber and latex as the primary alternative to natural, imported sources. As Jim Albanese writes in his ‘Wayback Machine’ column in The Salinas Californian:
“In 1945, the last year of the war, 1,628 acres of guayule were harvested in the Salinas Valley. An additional 7,429 acres were planted but never harvested. Those plants were subsequently destroyed.
If only we’d had a little more faith and patience with guayule. Today, the humble plant is a godsend to medical professionals and patients, offering its juices to provide nonallergenic gloves and other equipment.”
Too true, Jim, but it’s not just medical patients and latex allergy sufferers who have embraced guayule today. It has also been discovered by the manufacturers of everyday consumer products. Specifically, they’ve discovered its benefits as a safe, renewable material over synthetic petroleum-based materials.
And from that perspective, at least one thing hasn’t changed: guayule is still being used to save the planet.
Governor’s Innovation Award finalist seeks growers »
Named a finalist in the Arizona Tech Council’s prestigious Governor’s Celebration of Innovation, Yulex Corporation is inviting farmers and agriculture leaders to learn about cultivating guayule and partnering with Yulex as the company expands in Arizona.
Meetings are scheduled for September 12, 15, and 23 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the University of Arizona’s Maricopa Agricultural Center located at 37860 W. Smith Enke Rd., Maricopa, Ariz. 
Guayule is grown across Arizona and used to produce Yulex® rubber and latex emulsions.
Growers can expect to learn about the agricultural best practices and crop science that Yulex has developed to cultivate high latex yields from this new industrial crop.
Yulex supplies its material to manufacturers of medical, consumer and industrial products eager to replace petroleum-based synthetic rubber and latex materials as well as imported natural materials from Southeast Asia.
The meetings are free and open to the public with lunch provided. Seating is limited. To reserve a space, growers are encouraged to contact Jan Davis at jdavis@yulex.com or 520.381.2112.
Growing American Rubber »
A new book out this month (June 2009) details America’s quest to find a viable source of domestic rubber and sever dependence on foreign suppliers.
Growing American Rubber: Strategic Plants and the Politics of National Security, by Mark R. Finlay, plots out intersecting networks of actors including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, prominent botanists, interned Japanese Americans, Haitian peasants, and ordinary citizens—all of whom contributed to this search for economic self-sufficiency. Challenging once-familiar boundaries between agriculture and industry and field and laboratory, Finlay also identifies an era in which perceived divisions between natural and synthetic came under review. Although synthetic rubber emerged from World War II as one solution, the issue of ever-diminishing natural resources and the question of how to meet consumer, military, and business demands lingers today.
For more information on the book, click here.
One Hundred Years of Rubber »
The American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Rubber Division is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Yulex Corporation celebrated this centennial milestone with a presentation by Yulex Senior Vice President of Research and Development Dr. Katrina Cornish at the Rubber Division’s Technical Meeting in Akron, Ohio this week.
According to Dr. Cornish, the next hundred years of rubber history belong to guayule! “With a history that spans Model-T tires to today’s high-performance Type I Latex Allergy safe products, guayule has both a long history and an exciting, diverse future,” said Dr. Cornish
Dr. Cornish’s presentation, entitled A Century of History has Created a Sustainable Economic Reality: The Next Hundred Years of Rubber Belong to Guayule will be available soon. For more information on the ACS’s Rubber Division, visit www.rubber.org.
To familiarize yourself with the history of guayule, see the Guayule Timeline.
Dr. Katrina Cornish, Yulex Corporation
