Background:

I began my career in plant breeding as a corn breeder in 1965 with the DeKalb Agricultural Association at Illiopolis, Illinois.  In 1967, I opened a breeding station at Flatville, northeast of Champaign, and remained there as a corn breeder, developing inbred lines and hybrids, until the late 1980s.  At that time, I inquired into the application of molecular markers to plant breeding and started the development of a marker-assisted corn breeding program.  About the same time, I became interested in, and involved with, development of applications of near-infra red and thermal remote sensing to drought-stress breeding.  After DeKalb was bought by Monsanto, I continued with the development of marker-aided breeding programs and joined in research on the heritability of mRNA expression and its genetic correlations with drought resistance and yield.  While also at Monsanto, I devised a computer program for automated scoring of marker genotypes based on data produced from differential amplification of DNA with fluorescent-dye labeled primers.

Education:

Ph.D. Iowa State University.1965. Plant Breeding
B.S. Iowa State University. 1960. Agronomy

Professional Experience

2005 — 2008 Adjunct Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Illinois
1999 — 2005 Mining and Analysis of Genomic Data, Monsanto Co.
1990 — 1998 Marker-Aided Breeding, Remote Sensing, DeKalb Genetics
1987 — 1990 Regional Corn Breeding Research Coordinator, DeKalb Genetics
1965 — 1987 Corn Breeder And Station Manager, DeKalb Genetics

Relevant Publications

• Johnson, G. R. 2008. A commercial-grade mapping population. 44th Annual Illinois Corn Breeders School. March 3-4, Champaign, IL
• Johnson, G.R. and Z.P. McCuddin. 2009. Maize and the biotech industry. In The Maize Handbook. Vol2. J. Bennetzen and S. Hake(eds.) Springer.
• Choe, E. S. Da Silva, G. Mahone, and G.R. Johnson. 2008. George Harrison Shull: Inventor of hybrid corn and the heterosis concept. Poster presented at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference. Washington, D.C.
• Johnson, Richard. 2007. Corn Breeding in the 21st Century. (In) Breeding major food staples. M.S. Kang and P.M. Priyadarshan (Eds.). Blackwell Publishing, Ames, IA (In Press).
• Johnson, Richard. 2004. Marker assisted selection. (In) Plant Breed. Rev. J. Jannick (Ed). Vol. 24:Part 1: 293-309.
• Johnson, G. R. 1983. Effects of two-locus disequilibrium on progress from reciprocal recurrent selection in maize. Theor. Appl. Genet. 64: 295-301.
• Johnson, G. R. 1982. Two-locus theory in recurrent selection for general combining ability in maize. Theor. Appl. Genet. 61: 279-283.
• Johnson, G. R. 1973. Diallel analysis of leaf area heterosis and relationships to yield in maize. Crop Sci. 13: 178-180.

Other Publications

• Dudley, J.W. and G.R. Johnson. 2009. Epistatic models improve prediction of performance in corn. Crop Sci. 49:763-770.
• Lowe, B.A., M.M. Way, J.M. Kumpf, J. Rout, D. Warner, R.Johnson, C. L. Armstrong, M.T. Spencer, and P.S. Chomet. 2006. Marker assisted breeding for transformability in maize. Mol. Breed. 18: 229-239.
• Crosbie,T.M., S.R.Eathington, G.R.Johnson, M, Edwards, R.Reiter, S.Stark, R.G. Mohanty, M. Oyervides, R.E. Buehler, A.K. Walker, R.Dobert, X.Delannay, J.C.Pershing, M.A. Hall, K.R. Lamkey. 2006. Plant breeding: Past, present, and future. p.3-50. (In) Plant breeding: The Arnel. R. Hallauer International Symposium. K.R. Lamkey and M. Lee (Eds.). Blackwell Publ. Ames, IA.
• Bernardo, Rex, G.R. Johnson, J.W. Dudley ,and M.R. Meghji. 1989. Genetic models for F2xF2 and BC1xBC1 interpopulation crosses. Crop Sci. 29: 1371-1376.
• Bernardo, Rex, G.R. Johnson, J.W. Dudley ,and M.R. Meghji. 1989. Evaluation of F2xF2 and BC1xBC1 interpopulation crosses. Crop Sci. 29: 1377-1381.
• Johnson, G.R. 1976. Analysis of nuclear genetic resistance to race T of southern corn leaf blight. Crop Sci. 16: 340-343.
• Johnson, G.R. 1974. Predictions of GCA model estimates of total leaf area and leaf area distributions from leaf area of parental inbreds. Crop Sci. 14: 44-46.
• Johnson, G.R. 1973. Relationships between yield and several yield components in a set of maize hybrids. Crop Sci. 13: 649-651.

Synergistic Activities

• Program chairman. 2009. American Seed Trade Association Research Conference.
• Program Committee. 2008. American Seed Trade Association Research Conference.
• Cooperator, NSF Maize Inflorescence Project , 2005-2008.
• Chairman, 43rd Annual Illinois Corn Breeders School. 2007.
• Cooperator, DeKalb and Native Plants, Inc. joint research venture for investigation of applications of molecular markers to plant breeding, 1988-1990.
• Currently a consultant to Monsanto Company in the area of application of genomic applications to plant breeding.

Patents

• U.S. Patent No. 5,492,547
  Inventor- Richard Johnson
  Title- Process for predicting the phenotypic trait of yield in maize.
• U.S. Patent No. 6,212,824
  Inventors- Peter M. Orr, David C. Warner, James V. O’Brien, G. Richard Johnson
  Title- Methods for classifying plants for evaluation and breeding programs by use of remote sensing and image analysis.

Invited Talks and Lectures

• Iowa State University Plant Science Lecture Series.  1990. RFLP-based predicted selection advance and qtl mapping experiments.
• Gordon Conference of Quantitative Genetics and Biotechnology. 1991. Use of molecular markers in corn breeding.
• Twenty-seventh Annual Corn Breeders School. Dept. of Agronomy. University of Illinois. 1991. Rflp-assisted early generation selection for advanced generation testcross performance.
• Fourty-fourth Annual Corn Breeders School. 2008. Development of a commercial-grade maize mapping population.

Awards and Recognition

• DeKalb Genetics Principle Research Investigator. 1990.
• Monsanto Senior Research Fellow. 2002.
• Monsanto Golden Cob Award for Marker-Directed Selection for Whole Plant Regenerability in Tissue Culture. 2002.
• Monsanto Above and Beyond Award for Developments in Marker-Aided Breeding. 2003.
• Monsanto Above and Beyond Award for Development of Automated Scoring of Marker Genotypes. 2004.
• Monsanto Lifetime Achievement Award. 2004.

Collaborators and Other Affiliations

V. Brendel (ISU), D. Butruille (Monsanto), T. Crosbie (Monsanto), S. Eathington (Monsanto), J. Edwards (ISU), M. Edwards (Monsanto), S. Hake (USDA Berkeley), T. Helentjaris (Arizona), D. Jackson (CHSL), J. LeDeaux (Monsanto), R. Reiter (Monsanto), R. Schmidt (UCSD), E. Volbrecht (ISU)

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