NOTES ARE POSTED AT WWW.AGRON.MISSOURI.EDU/MNL/83 IN ORDER RECEIVED FOR MNL VOLUME 83, 2009. They are posted ‘as is’, and will be replaced with redacted copy once the printed copy is finalized Spring 2009.

Dec 31, 2008 is the cutoff date for inclusion in the print copy. There will be an email call for contributions Nov 2008. Please check MaizeGDB to be sure your email and address are correct.

The Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter exists for the benefit of the maize community as an informal vehicle for communication. Its inception and continuation has been to foster cooperation among those interested in investigating maize. This cooperation has distinguished our field from others and as a consequence has moved it forward at a pace greater than would have occurred otherwise. Your submissions are encouraged to disseminate knowledge about our field that might otherwise go unrecorded.

Because maize is both a commercial species and a genetic model system, the danger exists that the sharing of research materials might be diminished. It is imperative for us to work together to prevent this from occurring. Certainly, basic findings should be transferred to the industrial sector and basic advances in industry should be shared with the academic community for the benefit of both. Published materials must be shared for research purposes with the only restriction being against commercial use.

We remind the readers that contributions to the Newsletter do not constitute formal publications. Citations to them should be accompanied by permission from the authors if at all possible. Notes can be submitted at any time and are entered into MaizeGDB. We have set an arbitrary cutoff of December 31, 2008 for the next print copy, volume 83. Electronic submission is encouraged and is done by sending your contributions as attachments, or as text of an email, to MaizeNewsletter@missouri.edu. Submissions must require minimal editing to be accepted.

We encourage the community to carry studies of general scientific interest to the formal literature. However, there is a great need to share technical tips, protocols, mutant descriptions, map information, ideas and other isolated information useful in the lab and field. Feel free to share interesting photos of the 2008 maize genetics conference held in Washington DC.

To send notes.

Send your notes as attachments or as the text of an email addressed to MaizeNewsletter@Missouri.edu (we will acknowledge receipt, and will contact you further if necessary). If email is not feasible, please mail a double-spaced, letter-quality copy of your note, preferably with a disk containing an electronic version to Mary Schaeffer, 203 Curtis Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-7020. Please consult a recent issue for style format. Figures, charts and tables should be compact and camera-ready, and supplied in electronic form (jpg or gif) if possible. To separate columns in tables, please tab instead of using spaces, to ensure quality tabulations on the web. Your MNL Notes will go on the Web verbatim promptly, and will be edited and prepared for printing in the annual issue. Submissions must require only minimal editing.