IPREFER team members were engaged in research throughout the project’s duration. The articles below were published in peer-reviewed publications. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these publications are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All authors in bold text were affiliated with the IPREFER project.

2025

• Chiu, Milo; Zhang, Julia X., Arenz Brett, Khokhani, Devanshi. (2025). First report of bacterial blight of field pennycress caused by xanthomonas campestris in Minnesota. Plant Disease (Accepted for publication. Posted online on 05 Jun 2025, First Look). https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/epdf/10.1094/PDIS-01-25-0201-PDN.
• Forcella Frank, Sheik, Elinor, Zavada Michael, & Bernards Mark. (2025). Pollen loads of insects caught in cultivated fields of oilseed pennycress. The Great Lakes Entomologist, 58:45-56, https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2502. OPEN ACCESS.
• Forcella Frank, Ellarson Riley, Gesch Russ W., Hard, Alexander, Heller Nicholas, Jandricic, Sarah, Marks M.David, Mohammad, Yesuf, Perry, William, Phippen Winthrop, Roberts, Lucas, M., Wells, Samantha, Wesley, Tad, & Zhang, Julia. (2025). Flowers of black-seeded and yellow-seeded oilseed pennycress (Thlaspi arvense): abundance, timing, and potential insect visitors. The Great Lakes Entomologist, 57:190-199. https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol57/iss2/11/. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Gautam, Barasanti, Jarvis, Brice A., Esfahanian, Maliheh, McGinn, Michaela, Williams, Dalton, Liu, Shengjun, Phippen, Mary E., Heller, Nicholas J., Wesley, Tad L., Phippen, Winthrop B. & Ulmasov, Tim, Marks, M.David, Chopra, Ratan & Sedbrook, John C. (2025). Creating a new oilseed crop, pennycress, by combining key domestication traits using CRISPR genome editing. bioRxiv, 2025-03. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.15.643467.
• Griffiths, Marcus, Gautam, Barsanti, Lebow, Clara, Duncan, Keith, Ding, XinXin, Handakumbura, Pubudu, Sedbrook, John C. & Topp, Christopher N., 2025. Evaluation of 3D seed structure and cellular traits in-situ using X-ray microscopy. Scientific Reports, 15(1), p.4532. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88482-7.
• Mohammed, Yesuf Assen, Gesch, Russ W., Wells, Samantha, Heller, Nicholas J., Hard, Alexander W. & Phippen, Winthrop B. (2025). Seeding pennycress early has the potential to narrow the yield gap between monocrop and double-crop soybeans. (In preparation for submission to the Agronomy Journal).
• Sheik, Ellinor R. (2025). Covercress and Camelina Adoption in the Midwest: Farmer Challenges and Solutions [Senior thesis, Vassar College]. https://www.iprefercap.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Sheik-Ellinor-Thesis.pdf.
• Wu, Xing, Epstein, Ruth, Esfahanian, Maliheh, Gautam, Barasanti, Griffiths, Marcus, Perez, Jules, Barry, Kerrie, Lipzen, Anna, Daum, Chris, Yoshinaga, Yuko & Abeyratne, Chanaka R., et al. (2025). Population and adaptation history of 739 Thlaspi arvense natural accessions. bioRxiv, PREPRINT, 2025-03. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.21.644658.
• Zhang, Julia X., Arenz, Brett, Alvarez-Quinto, Robert & Anderson, James A. (2025) First report of aster yellows phytoplasma (‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’) in Thlaspi arvense (pennycress) in the United States. New Disease Reports. vol.. 51, e70037. https://doi.org/10.1002/ndr2.70037
• Zhang Julia X., Greatens, Nicholas, Arenz Brett, Flynn Jennifer, Anderson James A. (2025). First report of powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe alliariicola on pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) in North America. Plant Disease. (Accepted for publication on June 2, 2025).

2024

Publication of SPECIAL INTEREST to the Pennycress Research Community (non IPREFER authors): Liu, Xinyu, Cai, Hao & Wang, Michael. (2024). Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Growing Intermediate Winter Oilseed Feedstocks for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2024 12 (43), 16064-16072. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c06429.

• Alkotami, Linah, White, Dexter J., Schuler, Kathleen M., Esfahanian, Maliheh, Jarvis, Brice A., Paulson, Andrew E., Koley, Somnath., Kang, Jinling, Lu, Chaofu, Allen, Doug K. Lee, Young-Jin, Sedbrook, John C., & Durrett, Timothy P. (2024). Targeted engineering of camelina and pennycress seeds for ultrahigh accumulation of acetyl-TAG. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121: p.e2412542121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2412542121.
• Brandhorst, Joseph R.D., Wesley, Tad L., Phippen, Winthrop B. (2024). Evaluating germination rates for short- and long-term storage methods of pennycress seed. Industrial Crops and Products. 222, 119564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.119564.
• Cubins, Julijia. A., Wells, Samantha S., Johnson, Gregg A., Black, Katie L., Perez, Jayleen, Gonch, Ariana, Forcella, Frank & Gesch, Russ W. (2024). Stover removal has minimal impact on pennycress seeded into standing corn. Crop Science, 64(3), 1901-1909. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21242. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Dangol, Rashmi. (2024). Performance of Pennycress in some Illinois Cropping Systems [Master’s thesis, Illinois State University]. https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/1897. https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2024.20240618063948440572.999981.
• Forcella, Frank, Ellarson, Riley, Gesch, Russ W., Hard, Alex, Heller, Nicholas J., Jandricic, Sarah, Marks, M.David, Mohammed, Yesuf, Perry, William L., Phippen, Winthrop B., Roberts, Lucas M., Wells, Samantha, Wesley, Tad L., & Zhang, Julia. (2024). Flowers of Black-Seeded and Yellow-Seeded Oilseed Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense): Abundance, Timing, and Potential Insect Visitors, The Great Lakes Entomologist, 57(2), https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2494. Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol57/iss2/11.
• Gomes, Victor Emmanuel de Vasconcelos, Kennedy, Ann M., Darcy, Amanda R. & Lindsey, Alexander J. (2024). Hormone type, soaking duration and seed coating affect dormancy and germination of pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) lines. Seed Science & Technology, 52(2), 163-175(13). https://doi.org/10.15258/sst.2024.52.2.03. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Guzha, Athanas, Gautam, Barsanti, Marchiafava, Damiano, Ver Sagun, Julius, Garcia, Tatiana, Jarvis, Brice A., Barbaglia‐Hurlock, Allison M., Johnston, Christopher, Grotewold, Erich, Sedbrook, John C., Alonso, Ana Paula, & Chapman, Kent D. (2024). Targeted modulation of pennycress lipid droplet proteins impacts droplet morphology and seed oil content. The Plant Journal, 121: 2151-2171. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.17109.
• Meyer, Ryan Thomas. (2024). Ecosystem Services Provided by the Novel Winter Cash Cover Crop, Pennycress. [Master’s thesis, Illinois State University]. Theses and Dissertations, 1934. https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2024.20240618063950179768.999944. [Open access].
• Meyer, Ryan T., Heller, Nicholas J., Rhykerd, Robert L., Perry, William L. (2024). Pennycress reduces potential for nutrient loss in Illinois. J. Environmental Quality. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20644. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Mohammed, Yesuf A., Gesch, Russ W., Wells, Samantha, Heller, Nicholas J., Lindsey, Alexander J., Hard, Alexander W. & Phippen, Winthrop B. (2024). Economic evaluation of integrating pennycress into corn-soybean rotations. Agronomy Journal, 116(6), 3171-3180. http://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21691.
• Phippen, Mary E., Berhow, Mark A., Brownstein, Korey J., Wesley, Tad L., & Phippen, Winthrop B. (2024). Screening of seeds from wild pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) populations for sinigrin levels using a blood glucose meter and test strips. Industrial Crops & Products, 219, 119082. doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.119082.
• Rasoul, Amira, Johnston, Christopher R., LaChance, Jordan, Sedbrook, John C., & Alonso, Ana Paula. (2024). Propelling sustainable energy: Multi-omics analysis of pennycress FATTY ACID ELONGATION1 knockout for biofuel production. Plant Physiology, 197, (2), February 2025, kiae650,. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae650.
• Rocha, Leonardo. (2024). Improving the management of the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera Glycines Ichinohe): From field practices to next-generation sequencing approaches [Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University]. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/2063/.
• Winfield, DeMichael D., Dunn, Robert O., Winkler-Moser, Jill K., Cermak, Steven C., Marks, David M. (2024). Characterization, physical properties, and potential industrial applications of high oleic pennycress oil. Industrial Crops & Products, 210, 1118095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.118095.
• Yang, Liangcheng, Tuba, Yasmin L., Moklak, Michael A., Gautam, Barsanti, Heller, Nicholas J., Rhykerd, Robert L., Kopsell, David E. & Sedbrook, John C. (2024) Impacts of harvest date and concurrent alkali pretreatment and ensiling on anaerobic digestion of pennycress biomass. Fermentation, 10, 96. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10020096. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Winfield, DeMichael D., Dunn, Robert O., Winkler-Moser, Jill K., Cermak, Steven C., Marks, M.David. (2024). First report of powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe cruciferarum on field pennycress (Thalaspi-arvense) in North America. [Submitted: Plant Disease (May 5, 2024)]. (2024). Characterization, physical properties, and potential industrial applications of high oleic pennycress oil. Industrial Crops & Products, 210, 1118095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.118095.

2023

• Al Sulaimi, Rawan, Macknojia, Ali, Eskandari, Mohammad, Shirani, Asghaar, Gautam, Barsanti, Park, Wonkeun, Whitehead, Payton, Alonso, Ana Paula, Sedbrook, John C., Chapman, Kent D. & Berman, Diana. (2023). Evaluating the effects of very long chain and hydroxy fatty acid content on tribological performance and thermal oxidation behavior of plant-based lubricants. Tribology International, 185, 10856 108576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2023.108576.
• Cubins, Julija A., Wells, Samantha, Gesch, Russ W., Johnson, Gregg A., Walia, Maninder K., Chopra, Ratan, Marks, M.David, Swenson, Rebecca D. & Frels, Katherine. (2023). Harvest aids did not advance maturity of non-shatter pennycress. Crop Sci. 63:2465-2474, https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20979.
• Forcella, Frank, Portman, Zachary M., Wells, Samantha S., Perry, William, Gesch, Russ, Hoerning, Cody, Wesley, Tad & Phippen, Winthrop B. (2023). Abundance and diversity of bees visiting flowering pennycress, a new oilseed crop in the midwestern USA. The Great Lakes Entomologist 56 (1):99-107. https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2450. (Open access, available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol56/iss1/13/.
• Forcella, Frank, Petersen, Matt, Perry, William, Wells, Samantha S., Hard, Alex, Gesch, Russ W., Mohammed, Yesuf A., Hoerning, Cody, Wesley, Tad L., Ambrosi, Emma, & Phippen, Winthrop B. (2023). Flies associated with floral canopies of the new oilseed crop, pennycress, in the Midwestern U.S.A. The Great Lakes Entomologist, 56(2), 154-162. doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2463. https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2463 .(Open access, available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol56/iss2/5).
• Koirala, Nasib, Barker, David J., Gesch, Russ W., Heller, Nicholas J., Hard, Alexander W., Wells, Samantha S., Phippen, Winthrop B. & Lindsey. Alexander J. (2023). Seed pelleting and storage effects on germination of Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) Crop Sci., 63(5), 3025-3036. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21077. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Koirala, Nasib, Barker, David, J. Gesch, Russell, W., Mohammed, Yesuf, A., Heller, Nicholas, J., Hard, Alexander, W., Wells, Samantha S., Phippen, Winthrop, B., Tas, Pamela & Lindsey, Alexander, J. (2023). Seed treatment affected establishment and yield in two pennycress lines. Frontiers in Agronomy, 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2023.1205259.
• Meyer, Ryan T., Heller, Nicholas J., Rhykerd, Robert L., Hafner, Alex W. & Perry, William L.. 2023. Biomass, nitrogen, and carbon loss from the novel oilseed pennycress relative to annual ryegrass and cereal rye. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 9, (2023) (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2023.2215598. (https://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?AllField=el+oilseed+pennycress+&SeriesKey=oafa20).
• Mohammed, Yesuf, Russ Gesch, Samantha Wells, Nicholas Heller, Alex Lindsey, Alexander Hard, Winthrop Phippen & Bethany Bedeker. 2023. Yield tradeoffs of early corn harvest to enhance pennycress establishment. Agron. J. 115(4), 1762-1775. Doi: 10.1002/agj2.21370.
• Sun, Xiao, Broadman, Kristin, Marks, David, Wyse, Donald L. & Hu, Bo. (2023). Fungal Bioprocessing to Improve Quality of Pennycress Meal as a Potential Feeding Ingredient for Monogastric Animals. Fermentation, 9(8), 732. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9080732.

2022

• Koirala, Nasib, Barker, David, Helfer, Carin A., Phippen, Winthrop B., Heller, Nicholas, Hard, Alexander W., Wells, Samantha & Lindsey, Alexander J. (2022). A process to enhance germination of a wild pennycress variety. Seed Science & Technology, Vol. 50(2), August 2022, 195-205(11). https://doi.org/10.15258/sst.2022.50.2.03. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Nunn, Adam, Rodríguez-Arévalo, Isaac, Tandukar, Zenith, Frels, Katherine, Contreras-Garrido, Adrián, Carbonell-Bejerano, Pablo, Zhang, Panpan, Ramos-Cruz, Daniela, Jandrasits, Katharina, Lanz, Christa, Brusa, Anthony, Mirouze, Marie, Dorn, Kevin, Jarvis, Brice, Sedbrook, John, Wyse, Donald L., Otto, Christian, Langenberger, David, Stadler, Peter F., Weigel, Detlef, Marks, M. David, Anderson, James A., Becker, Claude & Chopra, Ratan. (2022). Chromosome-level Thlaspi arvense genome provides new tools for translational research and for a newly domesticated cash cover crop of the cooler climates. Plant Biotechnology, 20 (May 2022): 944-963. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13775. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Phippen, Winthrop B., Rhykerd, Rob, Sedbrook, John C., Handel, Christine & Csonka, Steve. (2022). From farm to flight: CoverCress as a low carbon intensity cash crop for sustainable aviation fuel production. A review of progress towards commercialization. Front. Energy Res., 24 June 2022. Sec. Bioenergy & Biofuels, 10: 2022, https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2022.793776.
• Tandukar, Zenith, Chopra, Ratan, Frels, Katherine, Heim, Brett, Marks, M.David & Anderson, James A. (2022). Genetic dissection of seed characteristics in field pennycress via genome-wide associate on mapping studies. The Plant Genome, 15(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.20211. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Verhoff, Kyle, Phippen, Winthrop, Heller, Nicholas & Lindsey, Alexander. (2022). Winter-type oilseed pennycress crop staging guide. Crop, Forage, & Turfgrass, 8, e20165. https://doi.org/10.1002/cft2.20165. Open Access. See the accompanying Winter-Type Oilseed Pennycress Staging Guide.
• Yang, Liangcheng, Lamont, Lucas D., Sedbrook, John C., Heller, Nicholas J. & Kopsell, David E. (2022). Anaerobic Digestion of Cereal Rye Cover Crop. Fermentation 8(11) 617. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation8110617.

2021

• Betts, K., Wells, Samantha S., Sarangi, D., Bernards, Mark L., Wyse, D.L. 2021. Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) response to herbicides applied postemergence. Weed Science Society of America, Annual Meeting Proceedings 60:20.
• Esfahanian, Maliheh, Nazarenus, Tara J., Freund, Meghan M., Mcintosh, Gary, Phippen, Winthrop B., Phippen, Mary E., Durrett, Timothy P., Cahoon, Edgar B. & Sedbrook, John C. (2021). “Generating pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) seed triacylglycerols and acetyl-triacylglycerols containing medium-chain fatty acids.” Energy Res. 9 https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2021.620118. The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.620118/full#supplementary-material. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Jarvis, Brice A., Romsdahl, Trevor B., McGinn, Michaela, Nazarenus, Tara J., Cahoon, Edgar B., Chapman, Kent D. & Sedbrook, John C. (2021). “CRISPR/Cas9-induced fad2 and rod1 mutations stacked with fae1 confer high oleic acid seed oil in pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.).” Frontiers Plant Sci. 12:652319. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.652319. (OPEN ACCESS).
• Jez, Joseph M., Topp, Christopher N., Marks, M.David, Chopra, Ratan & Sedbrook, John C. (2021). Technologies enabling rapid crop improvements for sustainable agriculture: example pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.). Emerg Top Life Sci 5(2): 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20200330.
• Marks, M.David, Chopra, Ratan & Sedbrook, John.C. (2021). Technologies enabling rapid crop improvements for sustainable agriculture: Example pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.). Emerg. Topics Life Sci. (2021) 5(2): 325 -335. https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20200330.
• Ott Matthew A., G. Gardner, Rai, Krishnan M., Wyse, Donald L., Marks, M.David & Chopra, Ratan. (2021). TRANSPARENT TESTA 2 allele confers major reduction in pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) seed dormancy. Industrial Crops & Products. 174 (2021) 114216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2021.114216. (OPEN ACCESS).

2020

• Chopra, Ratan, Folstad, Nicole & Marks, M. David. (2020). Combined genotype and fatty-acid analysis of single small field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) seeds increases the throughput for functional genomics and mutant line selection. Ind Crops Prod., 156: 112823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112823.
• Chopra, Ratan, Johnson, Evan. B., Emenecker, Ryan, Cahoon, Edgar B., Lyons, Joe, Kliebenstein, Daniel J., Daniels, Erin, Dorn, Kevin M., Esfahanian, Maliheh, Folstad, Nicole, Frels, Katherine, McGinn, Michaela, Ott, Matthew, Gallaher, Cynthia, Altendorf, Kayla, Berroyer, Alexandra, Ismail, Baraem, Anderson, James A., Wyse, Donald L., Ulmasov, Tim, Sedbrook, John C. & Marks, M.David. (2020). Identification and stacking of crucial traits required for the domestication of pennycress. Nat Food, 1: 84–91. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-019-0007-z.
• Sedbrook, John, C. & Durrett, Timothy P. (2020). Pennycress, carbon wise: Labeling experiments reveal how pennycress seeds efficiently incorporate carbon into biomass. J. Exp. Botany, 71(10): 2842-2846. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa136.
• Tyl, Catrin, DeHann, Lee, Frels, Katherine, Bajgain, Prabin, Marks, M.David & Anderson, James A. (2020). Emerging crops with enhanced ecosystem services: Progress in breeding and processing for food use. Cereal Foods World, 65, 2. https://doi.org/10.1094/CFW-65-2-0016.

2019

• Cubins, Julija, A., Johnson, Gregg A., Walia, Mainder K., Becker, Roger L. & Gesch, Russ W. (2019). Management of pennycress as a winter annual cash cover crop: A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 39, 46 (2019): 46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-019-0592-0. (Open access).