Luca Comai, Ph.D.
College of Biological Sciences
Plant Genomes and Breeding
NSF and DOE Funded Research Accelerating Crop Breeding
At UC Davis, Professor Luca Comai studies plate genomes to help crops grow better, faster and stronger. His federally funded research looks at how plants like potatoes, grapes and fruit trees change over time, especially plants grown from cuttings instead of seeds. He also works on ways to speed up plant breeding so farmers can get improved crops to fields sooner. His team helped identify a key genetic change in the most widely sold fresh potato in the US, giving breeders a new tool to improve crops on purpose.
Helping Humanity
Comai’s research helps farmers grow crops that are more productive, more resilient and better suited to a changing climate. If federal funding is reduced, fewer improved crop varieties would reach fields, breeding timelines will stretch by years and the US agriculture will fall behind global competitors. That loss would ripple outward, raising food costs, limiting farmer choice and weakening long-term food security for communities nationwide.
"Without continued federal funding, people would see a decay in the success rate of agriculture in the United States.” – Luca Comai, Ph.D.