PLANT BREEDING NEWS
EDITION 157
7 June 2005
An Electronic Newsletter of Applied Plant Breeding
Sponsored by FAO and Cornell University
Clair H. Hershey, Editor
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CONTENTS
1. NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RESEARCH NOTES
1.01 BTI researcher gets
NSF grant to create mutant maize lines for research
1.02 Rising ozone pollution
'threatens crop yields'
1.03 Impacts of strengthened
intellectual property rights regimes on the plant breeding industry in
developing countries
1.04 Arab and South American nations
to share science
1.05 UN calls for more support for S & T,
agriculture
1.06 "Who Decides? GM crops in the developing
world" - A Panos report
1.07 Failure to maintain global crop
diversity is emerging as a major threat to U.S. agriculture
1.08 Seed banks are a sound
investment
1.09 Scientists trace corn ancestry
from ancient grass to modern crop
1.10 Less popular crops key to
solving hunger, meeting reports
1.11 'Potato Park' to protect native
knowledge on potato
1.12 Researchers discover new
longer-living flower
1.13 Wild grasses and man-made wheats advance research capabilities
1.14 New "waxy" wheat being
tested for public release
1.15 Texas A&M
University researchers work toward hardy, stress resistant corns
1.16 An alternative strategy for
sustainable pest resistance in genetically enhanced crops
1.17 Scientists identify genes
responsible for 'black rot' disease in vegetables
1.18 Wheatgrass factors to boost salt
tolerance in wheat
1.19 ICRISAT
releases virus-resistant pigeonpea
1.20 CIMMYT
introduces improved maize in NW India
1.21 New hybrid maize fights weed in
Kenya
1.22 Researchers find gene that may
be at the root of potato blight
1.23 Protective power of proline
for salt stress
1.24 Global effort to tackle wheat genome
sequencing
1.25 New range of plant DNA libraries
provides massive boost to world's plant researchers
1.26 Study: plants use dual defense system to fight pathogens
1.27 Use of DNA barcodes to identify
flowering plants
1.28 Selected
articles from Checkbiotech
2. PUBLICATIONS
2.01 Crop genetic resources: an
economic appraisal
3. WEB RESOURCES
3.01 Conference 13 of the FAO
Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture
4 GRANTS AVAILABLE
4.01 The Asian Rice Foundation USA
5 POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS
5.01 Trait Discovery Team Leader, Corn Yield WUE Program
6 MEETINGS, COURSES AND
WORKSHOPS
7 EDITOR'S NOTES
=========================
1. NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RESEARCH NOTES
1.01 BTI researcher gets NSF grant to create
mutant maize lines for research
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI)
researcher at Cornell University has received a grant to help assemble a unique
database of DNA mutations in maize (corn).
The project not only will allow researchers to study the effects of knocking
out the function of single genes, one at a time, but also will create seeds for
each mutation, or disrupted gene. The seeds will be made widely available to
researchers.
The new maize lines could one day lead to plants with tailor-made properties,
such as higher protein or vitamin content or easier-to-digest starch for
ethanol production.
Funded by a new five-year, $3.8 million National Science Foundation (NSF)
grant, the project will generate some 10,000 lines in maize, each lacking a
single gene and its function, says Thomas Brutnell,
the principal investigator, a researcher at BTI and
an adjunct assistant professor of plant biology at Cornell. Brutnell
shares the award with two Iowa State University researchers and
will use $1.9 million in his Cornell lab.
Brutnell and colleagues will develop lines of maize
that have a piece of DNA that can be moved from one part of the plant's genetic
sequence, or genome, to another. Called transposons,
or jumping genes, these mobile pieces of DNA knock out the function of genes
they jump into, thereby mutating the genetic makeup. What is unique about this
collection is that a single gene will be disrupted in each line while the
50,000 or so other genes are kept exactly the same from seed to seed. A missing
gene may alter processes in ways that are easily visible to the naked eye or
through biochemical or physiological analysis. Such experimentation will give
researchers a better understanding of the relationships between specific genes
and complex plant systems.
The database will be invaluable to academic researchers interested in how
specific genes are involved in basic developmental or physiological processes,
as well as to biotechnology industry scientists seeking to create maize plants
with enhanced properties for agriculture or industry, Brutnell
says.
"This is going to be the only resource of its kind, a sequence-indexed
library that allows researchers to do a database search for a DNA sequence and
identify a single line of maize with a single disruption in the genome,"
says Brutnell, who notes that the project could
expand the understanding of the functions of about 20 percent of the maize
plant's entire genome.
Once scientists have identified a maize mutant from the online library, they
will be able to order kernels with that specific knockout gene. Researchers can
then grow plants to identify the function of the gene they are interested in.
The maize kernels will be donated to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Maize Genetics Cooperative Stock Center, a national
clearinghouse where scientists will be able to obtain the seeds for their
experiments.
"A good chunk of this project is developing a community resource," Brutnell says. By providing these lines to the community,
researchers with a wide range of interests and goals will have access to
genetically unique seeds. For instance, researchers could use these lines to
identify genes that make starch that is easier for enzymes to digest. Since
ethanol is produced from maize starch, such a refinement could lead to cheaper
ethanol. In terms of nutrition, researchers might target a gene that blocks an
enzyme used in the pathway that processes beta carotene, or vitamin A, thereby
creating a maize plant rich in the vitamin.
The project is especially important given the breadth of uses for maize, Brutnell adds. "If you walk into a grocery store, 80
percent of the products on the shelves contain maize, in the form of starch,
sugar, meal or oil," he says. "It's a $23 billion-a-year industry in
the U.S. alone."
Brutnell's colleagues include Erik Vollbrecht and Volker Brendel,
both in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology at Iowa State University in Ames; Brendel is also in the Department of Statistics.
The NSF grant, awarded by the Plant Genome Research Program, is designed to
promote infrastructure for conducting genomics research in such major crop
plants as maize.
Source: EurekAlert.com
4 May 2005
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1.02 Rising ozone pollution 'threatens crop yields'
Global food security could be threatened by ozone pollution close to the
Earth's surface, according to initial results of a study presented at the UK
Royal Society on 26-27 April.
Previously, greenhouse studies suggested that higher concentrations of carbon
dioxide from urban pollution might increase crop yields. But these studies
ignored the role of ozone increased by traffic fumes, for example near the
ground, despite the gas being known to interfere with plant growth.
Stephen Long of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States looked at what
future pollution levels could mean for crop yields in open-air studies of 22
varieties of soya bean.
The experiments mimicked carbon dioxide and ozone levels predicted for the year
2050. Preliminary results suggest that yields would fall by as much as 10 per
cent.
John Porter, an ecologist at Denmark's Royal
Veterinary and Agricultural University who attended
the London meeting, agrees that ozone will be a
threat to crops, particularly in rapidly industrialising countries such as China and India.
Ozone levels are predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to
rise most in the Middle East, in northern
parts of South Asia and in China one of the
largest producers of soya beans.
By 2050, urban pollution is expected to increase ozone levels near the ground
by at least 25 per cent in China.
Link
to full article in Nature
Source: SciDev.net
5 May 2005
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1.03 Impacts of strengthened intellectual property
rights regimes on the plant breeding industry in developing countries
N.P. Louwaars, R.
Tripp, D. Eaton, V. Henson-Apollonio, R. Hu, M. Mendoza, F. Muhhuku, S.
Pal & J. Wekundah
Wageningen University
The most common mechanism in five developing countries (China, Colombia, India,
Kenya and Uganda) to protect varieties in the plant breeding industry is
hybridization. Other mechanisms include seed laws, contract law, brands and
trademarks. This was the finding of a study commissioned by the World Bank on
strengthening Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in
the plant breeding industry and its effect on agriculture in developing
countries.
The study assessed initial experiences with strengthened IPRs
in developing country agriculture. It analyzed the design, management and
impacts of various IPR instruments applied to plant
breeding in five developing countries. Various issues were covered such as the
implementation of IPR regimes, changes in public and
private plant breeding, and changes for farmers.
Indicators, according to the study, that are unlikely to wait for a rapid
formation and efficient enforcement of the IPR regime
types are political realities, limitations in administrative resources, and
varied economic incentives in developing countries.
Study in PDF format: http://www.cgn.wageningen-ur.nl/pgr/images/IPR%20in%20breeding%20industry.pdf
Source:CropBiotech Net
, via SeedQuest.com
27 May 2005
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1.04 Arab and South American nations to share science
[CAIRO] South American and Arab countries have pledged to increase
cooperation in science and technology. The plans were outlined in a declaration
made at the first South American-Arab Summit, held on 10-11 May in Brasilia, Brazil.
The main aim of the summit was to emphasise the importance of and opportunities
for economic, social, technical, scientific and cultural cooperation between
the two groups of nations.
The Arab and South American nations said they would create a Scientific and
Technological Development Program. This would initially focus scientific
cooperation on desertification, management of water resources, irrigated
agriculture, biotechnology and genetic engineering, climate forecasting, and
cattle herding.
"The scientific issues in the declaration are very good ones and deal with
specific areas of common interest, but more planned work is needed," says Hassan Abdel Aal
Moawad, professor of microbial biotechnology and
former president of Mubarak City for Scientific
Research and Technology Applications, Alexandria, Egypt.
Moawad told SciDev.Net that a network of research
centres and a database of scientists in both regions should be created to enhance
collaborative research and improve the overall scientific performance in the
two regions.
He pointed out that there are about 12 million people of Arab origin living in South America who could act as a bridge between the two regions in all fields, including
science and technology.
Among the scientists from Arab countries now living in South America is Egyptian-born Nagib Nassar,
a professor of genetics at the University of Brasilia, who moved to Brazil in 1974.
Nassar told SciDev.Net that there is a lot of
potential for scientific cooperation between Arab and South American countries.
Brazil, for instance, could contribute to alleviating food shortages in Egypt by offering expertise in agricultural sciences, he said.
Some Arab countries such as Libya began sending undergraduate students to Brazil in the 1980s, creating a large base of technicians with experience of
Brazilian science, Nassar added.
The declaration emphasises the "urgent need" to coordinate
cooperation programmes in the two region's leading universities and research
centres and to promote exchange visits of scientists.
It also states that Arab and South American countries are committed to
protecting intellectual property rights, while "recognising that
intellectual property protection should not prevent developing countries from
access to basic science and technology, and from
taking measures to promote national development, particularly concerning public
health policies".
It calls for "active and generous" support from the international
community for efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other
epidemics, in particular those affecting Africa.
The Brasilia summit was convened by Brazil's president Luiz Inacio
da Silva and attended by representatives of 22 Arab
and 12 South American nations, including 15 heads of state. It was co-chaired
by da Silva and by the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Buteflika.
Source: SciDev.Net
23 May 2005
Contributed by Ortiz, Rodomiro (CIMMYT)
r.ortiz@cgiar.org
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1.05 UN calls for more support for S & T,
agriculture
Research and development need more support to further address
poverty-related problems in agriculture, as well as in health, natural resource
and environmental management, energy, and climate. This was forwarded by a
United Nations special report entitled "In larger freedom: towards
development, security and human rights for all" by Secretary General Kofi Annan. It also stated that
worldwide support can bring about economic development and enable developing
countries to devise solutions to their own problems.
For agriculture and the environment, increasing food output and incomes and
natural resource management were recommended. In line with these, the report
proposed several activities such as forest replanting, policy reforms, training
in farm practices, and improved access to transport, water, sanitation, and
modern energy services.
The other highlighted areas for emphasis were agricultural research,
biodiversity, climate change, desertification, equitable trading systems,
increasing food output and income, and science and technology for development.
Two particular priorities for science and technology were presented. The first
is to "mount a major global initiative" on tropical diseases
research, and second, to provide additional support to the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for
its researches on tropical agriculture.
The report will be part of the Millennium Review Summit on September 2005,
which will evaluate the progress of attaining the Millennium Development Goals.
See CGIAR's Story of the Month at http://www.cgiar.org/monthlystory/april2005.html, and the UN report at http://www.un.org/largerfreedom
Source: CropBiotech Update
22 April 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.06 "Who Decides? GM crops in the developing
world" - A Panos report
London, United Kingdom
Government decisions about genetically modified (GM) food are having
far-reaching consequences on food production and farmers, the environment and
possibly even human health. Scientific evidence of the long-term impact of GM
crops remains inconclusive, and media coverage is often polarised between the
pro-GM industry lobby and anti-GM campaigners.
A new Panos
report, The GM Debate – Who Decides?, asks who has access to the people
with the power to decide, who is being left out of the GM debate, and explores
how the media is covering the GM controversy.
KEY FINDINGS
The Panos Report The GM Debate - Who Decides? explores how decisions are made about GM food crops in five
developing countries - Brazil, India, Kenya, Thailand and Zambia - by drawing on current research and interviews with more than 100
people.
Who really decides?
Our case studies demonstrate that the framework for decision-making on GM
crops varies considerably between countries, according to specific political,
economic, agricultural and environmental contexts. Opinions, even among common
interest groups, are not homogeneous across the developing world.
Despite these differences, it is possible to draw some broad conclusions about
how governments in developing countries make decisions, and who has access to
decision-makers:
GM technology is regulated by agencies within ministries of agriculture,
commerce, science and environment. Parliaments mostly - though not always -
have a large role in deciding the content of new laws.
Different groups of citizens vary in their access to different parts of the
policy-making process. Scientists, international donors, the biotechnology
industry and groups representing commercial farmers tend to have good access to
ministries of agriculture, commerce and science.
Scientists are involved in most stages of the decision-making process and tend
to have good access to decision-makers across all policy areas.
Consumer groups and other NGOs are more successful at accessing ministries of
environment and public health, and sympathetic MPs, than the often more
powerful ministries of agriculture, commerce and science.
What's the media's role?
Accurate and balanced media coverage is crucial to the GM debate. The case
studies found that:
The quality of media coverage and debate was higher in countries with a longer
tradition of multiparty systems of government, an active civil society and a
tradition of independent media.
There is a lack of analytical (or investigative) reporting; most of the news
articles, for example, were based on announcements from government sources.
External groups clearly influence media coverage in many countries.
Biotechnology companies carry out public relations work, and anti-GM NGOs also
make themselves heard in the media.
The views of farmers, particularly small-scale, are rarely reflected in the
media.
Full report in PDF format: The
GM Debate - Who Decides? (1.08MB)
Case studies: Brazil
| India
| Kenya
| Thailand
| Zambia
Source: SeedQuest.com
3 June 2005
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1.07 Failure to maintain global crop diversity is
emerging as a major threat to U.S. agriculture
Rome, Italy and Washington, DC
New study finds crop genebanks around the world
critical in fight against plant diseases now afflicting key U.S. crops
Seeking to avert billions of dollars in crop damage from a variety of new
and re-emerging plant pathogens, U.S. agriculture experts are combing the globe
for disease-resistant crop varieties. But a new report released today warns
that crop genebanks around the world that may hold
the necessary genetic resources are suffering from under funding and neglect,
jeopardizing the future of farming in the U.S. and globally.
The report, “
Safeguarding the Future of U.S. Agriculture: The Need to Conserve Threatened Collections of
Crop Diversity Worldwide”, published by the University
of California Genetic Resources Conservation Program, points to
deteriorating conditions in the world’s crop genebanks
as a major threat to U.S. agriculture, which is already losing at least $20 to
$33 billion each year to plant pests and disease.
“In an age when all the world’s agriculture is interconnectedwhether
by trade, the exchange of crop genetic resources amongst plant breeders or the
spread of diseasethe economic vitality of US
agriculture and, indeed, global food security are inextricably linked to the
fate of crop genebanks,” said Dr. Calvin Qualset, a plant genetics expert at the University of
California-Davis and co-author of the report.
US Agriculture Needs New Sources of Disease Resistance
The report notes that nearly every major US crop is battling a plethora of new or re-emerging pests against which
it has little to no resistance. In each case, biologists are searching through
US and international genebank collections to find
genes for disease resistance that can be bred into new crop varieties. These
include:
Soybean: A fungus that causes a rust disease is now invading US soybean fields.
It can cause yield losses of up to 80 percent, threatening an $18 billion
harvest.
-Potato: Potato blight of the type that caused the Irish potato famine has
re-emerged to threaten the American potato industry where it is already
destroying $400 million worth of potatoes each year.
-Corn: US
corn production, worth $30 billion annually, is facing multiple assaults from
several diseases, including some that are capable of crossing borders with ease
and have recently emerged here.
-Wheat: Fusarium head blight, or scab, has already
caused $3 billion in damage to the US wheat and barley industries.
-Apple: The $1.8 billion US apple industry is vulnerable to destructive
bacteria that cause fire blight disease. The bacteria are becoming resistant to
anti-biotic pesticides that once controlled them.
-Citrus: All types of citrus cultivated in the US, where they generate $2 billion annually, are vulnerable to citrus
canker and citrus blight.
The report notes that crop genebanks are also
invaluable to US
agriculture because they provide American farmers with access to new crop
varieties to meet changing consumer demands. Higher incomes are spurring
demands for higher quality foods; an aging population wants healthier foods;
surging demand for organics has made organic food production an $11 billion
industry in the United States; and a growing ethnic population is seeking out produce once rarely
grown on American farms. In each case, staying abreast of the market requires
access to genetic diversity.
These same genebanks are essential to improving
agriculture and thus aiding economic development in poor countries, and to
jumpstarting farming after natural disasters or wars. Today, genebank resources are helping to rebuild agriculture in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in countries devastated by the Asian tsunami of December
2004.
Another recent study illustrates just how central genebanks
have become in the ongoing effort to breed improved crop varieties. The study
reports that of 600,000 requests for 10 key crops distributed by the US
National Plant Germplasm System in the 1990s,
two-thirds sought specific traits. Thirty-seven percent of these were requested
in a search for pathogen resistance or tolerance; 14 percent for tolerance to
environmental stresses; 17 percent for traits to improve quality; and 12
percent for traits that improve yield.
“Whether to fight crop diseases, stay abreast of changing markets, or aid
international reconstruction and development, agriculture requires the broadest
possible access to crop diversity,” said report co-author Henry Shands, Director of the National Center
for Genetic Resources Preservation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Agricultural Research Service in Fort Collins, Colorado. “This diversity is
being lost at an alarming ratein
farmers’ fields, in the wild, and now in the very institutions meant to
protect them.”
Rescuing Crop Diversity
There is growing evidence that crop genebanks around
the world face mounting stress. The Qualset-Shands
report notes that only 35 of the 1 470 genebanks
around the world meet international standards for managing long-term
conservation, and more than 1 million of the 6 million samples held in these
collections are degenerating. For example, field collections of apple in Kazakhstanthe crop’s center of originare imperiled by disease
and environmental stress; a power failure in Cameroon destroyed a collection of
root and tuber crops important to food security in Africa; a valuable
collection of wheat, potato and other crops held in Russia is largely
inaccessible because of lack of funds to translate and computerize data; and
China’s National Citrus Germplasm Repository has lost
up to 60 percent of its collection.
One potential solution, according to the report, lies in the newly created Global
Crop Diversity Trust, an independent, international organization that was
established in 2004 to support crop diversity conservation over the long term.
Initiated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),
the Trust is building a $260 million endowment through donations from national
governments, philanthropic foundations, and private corporations. The first
priority of the Trust is to rescue collections that are at risk today. The
governments of Cape Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Syria, Togo, and Tonga have so far signed on as supporters of the Trust. The government of Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, recently donated $50,000 to
the Trust endowment. The Trust has raised about $56 million so far.
“We need to be collecting, conserving, and growing out seeds from around the
world because in many cases, the only places plant breeders will be able to
find particular genes or combinations of genes will be genebank
collections,” said Dr. Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden
and a National Medal of Science recipient for his work in plant diversity.
“Today’s farmers rely on such a narrow range of crop varieties that many
valuable ones just aren’t being cultivated anymore. And if they’re not saved in
a genebank, they may be lost forever, to the great
detriment of agriculture and human food security.”
Source: SeedQuest.com
28 February 2005
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1.08 Seed banks are a sound investment
Syria is home to the International Center for
Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA),
which maintains a collection of 131,000 seeds of plants eaten throughout West
and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
The seed bank has used these samples to rebuild crop diversity in war-torn
countries, such as Afghanistan, whose own seed bank was looted in 2002 (see Looters threaten Afghanistan's agriculture).
But with the United States calling Syria a sponsor of terrorism, concern is growing that US sanctions and the
threat of military action could disrupt ICARDA's
work. One solution, says this editorial in Nature, is to increase
support for the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research set up the trust to fund more gene banks
worldwide (see Multi-million
dollar fund banks on crop diversity). However, the trust needs US$260
million to preserve seeds used globally and to improve seed bank storage
facilities.
With only 35 of the world's 1,460 seed banks meeting international standards
for long-term seed storage, and nearly one-fifth of their seeds degenerating,
supporting the trust's efforts to protect crop diversity and global food
security would be a small price to pay says the editorial.
Source: SciDev.net
2 June 2005
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1.09 Scientists trace corn ancestry from ancient
grass to modern crop
Washington, DC
Researchers have identified corn genes that were preferentially selected by
Native Americans during the course of the plant's domestication from its grassy
relative, teosinte, (pronounced "tA-O-'sin-tE") to the single-stalked, large-eared
plant we know today. The study revealed that of the 59,000 total genes in
the corn genome, approximately 1,200 were preferentially targeted for selection
during its domestication.
The study, by University
of California, Irvine's Brandon Gaut and his
colleagues, appears in the May 27 issue of the journal, Science.
Understandably, a primary goal of teosinte
domestication was to improve the ear and its kernels. A teosinte ear is only 2 to 3 inches long with five to 12 kernelscompare that to corn's 12-inch ear that boasts 500
or more kernels! Teosinte kernels are also
encased in a hard coating, allowing them to survive the digestive tracks of
birds and grazing mammals for better dispersal in the wild. But, for
humans, the tooth-cracking coating was undesirable so it was selectively
reduced…and reduced…and reduced…until all that remains is the annoying bit of
paper-thin, translucent tissue that sometimes sticks between the teeth when one
munches corn on the cob.
To analyze the genes of modern corn and its ancestral teosinte,
Gaut and his coworkers used
relatively new genomic techniques to determine the DNA sequence of 700 gene
bits in the two plants and used "population genetics," the study of
genetic variation, to compare them.
"These results will provide important insights to modern corn breeders in
their quest to establish hardier, higher-yielding corn plants," said Gaut. "The scientific approach will also be
useful in the study of other domesticated organisms, plants and animals
alike."
This work generally confirms the idea that corn went through a "population
bottleneck," or a period when a significant portion of corn’s genetic
diversity was lost, which typically marks a domestication event.
Calculations using these data reveal that fewer than 3,500 teosinte
plants may have contributed to the genetic diversity in modern corn.
Between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, Native Americans living in what is now Mexico began domesticating teosinte, or the
"grain of the gods," as the name has been interpreted to mean.
Scientists cannot yet say how long this domestication process took, but they do
know that around 4,500 years ago, a plant recognizable as today's corn was
present across the Americas.
So, thousands of years before Gregor Mendel
postulated his theories on genetics and heredity, indigenous Americans were
breeding corn to select for desirable traits. By selectively breeding each
generation, ancient farmers drastically changed teosinte's
appearance, yield, grain quality and survivabilityculminating
in today's "corn." In fact, teosinte is so
unlike modern corn, 19th century botanists did not even consider the two to be
related.
"This is a very exciting finding," said Jane Silverthorne of the
National Science Foundation's (NSF) biology directorate, which funded the
project. "We are beginning to have a much clearer picture of what happened
to the genes responsible for the structure of today’s corn plant."
A broad understanding of the genes present in modern-day corn will provide a
foundation for improving it as well as its cousin cereal crops. Target
goals include yield increases, improved insect and pathogen resistance,
enhanced environmental adaptability, and improved nutritional value. To that
end, sequencing the entire genome of corn is also critical to improving the
crop and its value in human subsistence. To that end, sequencing the entire
genome of corn is also critical to improving the crop and its value in human
subsistence.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
nearly 12 billion bushels of corn were harvested in the United States in 2004, which will be used for a diverse array of products including
livestock feed, ethanol and plastic consumer items, as well as food. The
National Corn Growers Association reported that 2003 corn exports were valued
at $4.5 billion.
Supported by NSF's Plant Genome Research Program, this collaborative project
included Gaut and co-workers at the University of California, Irvine, together with scientists from the USDA-Agricultural
Research Service, the University of Missouri and the University of Wisconsin. NSF is part of an interagency program along with the U.S. Department
of Energy and the USDA that plans to support the
sequencing of the corn genome over the next three years.
Source: SeedQuest.com
27 May 2005
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1.10 Less popular crops key to solving hunger,
meeting reports
More research on neglected but nutritious crops can be the solution to
hunger. This is according to agriculture and biodiversity experts who met
during the International Consultation on the Role of Biodiversity in Achieving
the United Nations Millenium Development Goal of
Freedom from Hunger and Poverty held in Chennai, India. They also said that a more varied selection of native crops can
provide greater dietary diversity. Some examples of these crops are varieties
of millet in Asia; quinoa, canihua,
and amaranth in South
America; and green leafy
vegetables in Africa.
This undertaking is believed not only to address the first UN Millenium Development Goal to "reduce by half the
number of people who suffer from hunger", but also two others: to reduce
infant mortality and the number of women who die in childbirth.
The meeting was organized by the International Plant Genetic Resources
Institute and Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, both from Rome, with the M.S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation from Chennai. Recommendations from the meeting are being finalized
to be part of UN's review on the progress of its Millenium
Development Goals in September.
For more news, visit http://www.underutilized-species.org.
For information regarding the meeting, see http://www.mssrf.org/events_conferences/content_events/millets/millets.htm.
Source: CropBiotech Update
29 April 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.11 'Potato Park' to protect native knowledge on
potato
The Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) or
International Potato Center has signed an agreement
with local farmers from Cusco, Peru to start a
'potato park' to house CIP's germplasm collection,
which includes domesticated and wild potato varieties. This agreement is the
first of its kind to be signed by Peru and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The document intends to preserve Peruvian farmers' local knowledge on
cultivating more than 2,000 varieties of native potatoes. These practices are
selected and domesticated ancient technologies from as far back as the pre-Inca
times.
The Association for Nature and Sustainable Development stands for the six rural
communities comprising the park. According to Alejandro Argumedo,
its associate director, "Biological diversity is best rooted in its natural
environment and managed by indigenous peoples who know it best." He sees
the concept of the park fit to be followed by other indigenous communities.
For more information, visit http://www.cipotato.org/news_archive.asp
Source: CropBiotech Update
6 May 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.12 Researchers discover new longer-living flower
Penn State researchers have discovered an extraordinary new flower that
lives longer than an ordinary one. Named Elegance Silver by the researchers,
the plant could be the Superman of the flower world.
Elegance Silver is a Regal Pelargonium, a very beautiful flower that is used as
a flowering houseplant, and belongs to the genus Pelargonium, the same genus as
geraniums. It has a glistening white flower with two burgundy feathers on the
top two petals. In terms of flower shape and size, Elegance Silver resembles
geraniums. The major differences are the palette of flower colors,
symmetry of petals and the highly serrated leaves of the regal.
"It's unique because of its floral longevity and physiological
attributes," said Dr. Richard Craig, professor emeritus, Department of
Horticulture at Penn State. This super flower is a result of almost 30 years of plant breeding.
Through hybridization and genetic selection, Craig was able to achieve this
unique flower. Hybrids are produced when pollen from one flower is taken and
used to pollinate another with different genetic qualities. This leads to the
dominant traits of the two parents being passed on to a new plant. Researchers
used forceps to extract the pollen from one parent by hand and used it to
fertilize another parent.
"It's like a roll of the dice," Craig said. "You can only hope
for the best when breeding regals. Sometimes you'll
get lucky and breed the perfect plant, and sometimes the plant you breed will
be useless."
This time the dice rolled in Craig's favor. However,
he would not have known about the plant's special longevity had he not cut some
of Elegance Silver's flowers and placed them in a vase. He wanted to share the
flower he bred with his grandchildren, who were visiting him from Chicago. Craig was surprised to see that the flowers were still in an
acceptable condition after 14 days of being in the vase.
Elegance Silver is much less sensitive to ethylene compared to other regals, according to Dr. Hye-Ji
Kim who conducted the physiological research as part of her dissertation. Small
amounts of ethylene cause petals to separate and also to wilt. The reduced
sensitivity to ethylene allows the flowers to retain their vitality for a much
longer time. Elegance Silver was later found to produce many more flowers over
an extended period of time than other regals.
"There are no other known regal cultivars that have both," added
Craig.
The Penn State
researcher introduced Elegance Silver into his breeding program after he
discovered it was quite different from other plants. The original seedling was
used to start a new group of plants.
The University applied for a plant patent for Elegance Silver filed with the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Additional protection is being sought
internationally. A license was given to Oglevee Ltd.
of Connellsville, Pa., which has produced Penn State's other patented geraniums
and regals for many years. The first plants will
become available to flower growers in fall 2005 and to consumers next spring.
Source: EurekAlert.com
5 May 2005
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1.13 Wild grasses and man-made wheats
advance research capabilities
AMARILLO – Getting resistance to the latest biotype of greenbug
or rust in wheat may require some bridge building.
Dr. Jackie Rudd, associate professor at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center and state wheat breeder, is looking at wild grass species and synthetic
wheats for possible solutions.
"We're looking for new unique sources of resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses," Rudd said. "I'm being forced
to find broader gene pools to bring in the genetic variability I believe is
necessary for the gene pool here."
Karnal bunt, new races of Hessian fly, new leaf rust,
stripe rust and Russian wheat aphid, as well as the need for more drought
tolerance present challenges, he said. Progress in traditional breeding has
been slow due to limited genetic variability for these traits.
Two projects growing in the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station greenhouses
in Vernon and Bushland are designed to increase the
genetic variability. These projects are being funded by the Texas Wheat
Producers Board.
"My preference is to cross wheat with wheat," Rudd said. "The
best chance for success is to cross High Plains wheat
with High Plains wheat. But to get genetic variability, you cross state lines
or even into other countries. The next step would be to cross species, if the
desired traits can't be obtained in a wheat-to-wheat cross."
A wild grass collection being mined for its genetics has 716 lines of wheat
relative species. The grasses originated in Turkey and were collected in 1992 as a joint project between Texas A&M University and Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo, (The International Maise
and Wheat Improvement Center) better known as CIMMYT.
"This is a gold mine of untapped genetics," Rudd said. "They can
be tapped directly through laboratory crosses, but it is difficult."
The researcher must pollinate from a wild species to a hexaploid
wheat and then rescue and nurture the developing embryo to get a plant, he
said. Hexaploid wheat has three genomes or sets of
chromosomes. This is the makeup of the typical bread wheat.
After such a cross, the initial plant will have genetic abnormalities. A series
of crosses back to the hexaploid wheat is necessary
before the desired trait from the wild species is expressed without any genetic
abnormalities.
The second part of Rudd's research, working with synthetic or man-made hexaploid wheats, provides a more
accessible bridge to the wild species, he said.
Most synthetic hexaploid wheats
are crosses between Durum (pasta-type) wheat, which has two genomes or sets of
chromosomes, and Aegilops Tauchii
or goat grass, Rudd said.
The synthetic hexaploid made from this initial cross
is generally wild and unuseable, except as a bridge
to the wild species, he said.
"Valuable genetics are lost in the direct cross with the wild grass due to
genetic abnormalities," Rudd said. "With synthetic hexaploids, the full compliment of wild relative genes is
available for selection."
Researchers in Bushland and Vernon are studying synthetic hexaploids already
developed through CIMMYT. Crosses between Texas winter wheat and 117 CIMMYT synthetics have
already been made and another 1,100 crosses are expected to be made available
to U.S. researchers, he said.
"We want to look at them for the forage characteristics they may offer,
which have not been evaluated," Rudd said. "They have been shown to
have large, strong seed for rapid stand establishment and early growth in the
fall."
These synthetic spring wheat varieties must be backcrossed to make them winter wheats, he said. Then they can be looked at for other
characteristics.
"If we find something useful in the wild, we may make a synthetic hexaploid from it, or directly cross into wheat," Rudd
said.
"Through traditional genetic variability we've been able to gain 1 percent
a year in grain yield," he said. "Can we double our genetic gain by
doubling our variability?"
CIMMYT predicted that within a few years, more than
one-half of its advance lines of wheat will trace back to a
synthetic wheat. And that's from a project started less than 20 years
ago, in a world where breeders spend up to 15 years trying to get a desired
trait in a line of wheat.
Source: EurekAlert.com
3 May 2005
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1.14 New "waxy" wheat being tested for
public release
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are
field-testing a soft white spring wheat whose starch could open the door to
novel food uses. That's the hope of Craig Morris, a cereal chemist who
developed the new wheat, called Penawawa-X, at the ARS Western Wheat Quality Laboratory at Pullman, Washington.
In that and other Pacific Northwest states, soft white wheat is typically grown
for making cookies, cakes, udon noodles, flatbreads
and other Asian or Middle Eastern baked goods. The wheat's starch consists of
two kinds of glucose polymer: a branched form called amylopectin,
and a straight-chain form called amylose.
According to Morris, who directs the ARS lab, Penawawa-X would be one of the first commercial, soft white
spring wheats with 100-percent amylopectin
starch, a trait known as "full-waxy." As
such, it forms a paste at lower temperatures and swells with more water than
regular or partially waxy wheat starches (those containing less than 25 percent
amylose).
Waxy starch gels also do not lose water upon exposure to freezing and thawing.
Food-bodying agents, shelf-life extenders and shortening replacement are some
potential uses envisioned for full-waxy starches, including those from rice,
corn and barley.
Morris developed Penawawa-X using conventional plant
breeding techniques that enabled him to combine three deficient forms of the
gene for granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS), the enzyme responsible for making amylose. Since the deficient forms can't make GBSS, no amylose is made either. Besides novel food uses, the full-waxy starch may have industrial
applications, perhaps in adhesives.
To identify possible uses, Morris' lab sent dozens of samples of Penawawa-X wheat to bakers, millers, food companies and
others. Under an ARS cooperative research and
development agreement, one company is exploring commercial use of the wheat's
starch, flour, bran and other components.
Multistate field trials are now under way to generate
yield and other data necessary to register Penawawa-X
in the journal Crop Science and to publicly release it.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.
Source: SeedQuest.com
25 May 2005
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1.15 Texas A&M University researchers work toward hardy, stress resistant
corns
Lubbock, Texas
A collaborative corn breeding project under way at the Texas
A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Lubbock is paving the way for hardy,
stress-resistant corns that yield well under demanding growing conditions.
"We are making good progress in breeding less thirsty, drought-resistant
food and field corns that can resist heat, insects and aflatoxin,"
said Wenwei Xu, Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station corn breeder, who holds a joint appointment with Texas Tech
University. "Corn lines bred to survive and thrive in West Texas can be useful in other parts of the world."
The project employs the expertise of plant breeders, geneticists,
entomologists, plant pathologists, soil specialists, irrigation engineers,
plant ecologists and Extension agents who represent two universities and USDA's Agricultural Research Service in three states.
The scientists grow corn breeding lines and populations under well-defined soil
moisture conditions by controlling irrigation and making selections based on a
series of positive characteristics.
"We know that under drought conditions, drought-tolerant plants employ
several mechanisms – such as strong root systems and hydraulic lift," Xu said. "Some of our work centers
on transferring the genes responsible for these traits from tropical germplasm into temperate corn lines bred to perform and
yield well under West Texas' sometimes harsh growing conditions."
West Texas is a hot and dry environment. Even with irrigation supplementing
rainfall, crops are subject to drought stress. In their field evaluations, the
researchers noticed that some corns were able to cope with this stress while
others simply couldn't.
"We think this is due to a phenomenon known as hydraulic lift. Some plants
are able to lift moisture from their deep roots up to the shallow roots just
under the soil surface, and release the moisture into the soil," Xu said.
"Corn roots can penetrate to a depth of several feet. But 80 percent of
their roots are concentrated in the top foot of soil. Plants that can lift
moisture from their deep roots to their shallow roots at night can better
withstand drought conditions."
This lifted moisture keeps the shallow roots functioning, which improves the
plant's ability to absorb crucial soil nutrients. The researchers found that
the most drought tolerant hybrids had the greatest hydraulic lift capacity, and
produced more grain under moisture stress because their better root systems
allowed the plants to recover quickly once drought stress was relieved.
The researchers are also seeking corns that can resist insect pests and plant
disease – another part of the multiple-stress resistance package.
"We are also selecting for resistance to corn earworms, spider mites, and aflatoxin," Xu said.
"Our hybrids have significantly less aflatoxin
compared to commercial hybrids, and similar yield. Aflatoxin
contamination degrades grain quality and market price, and determines whether
the grain can be sold as food or livestock feed."
The process of transferring superior genes from tropical germplasm
into existing temperate corn lines is called "introgression."
It isn't easy work.
Crossing tropical and temperate corn germplasm
requires hand pollination in the field and greenhouse. Fortunately, greenhouses
and nurseries in Texas
and Hawaii enable the researchers to produce two generations of corn lines each
year.
Crosses of tropical and temperate corn, and their offspring, are then evaluated
for multiple stress resistance in field trials at more than 10 locations across
Texas. Only the best of these plants are selected as breeding candidates.
"Investigating the physiological and genetic mechanisms of corn's stress resistance
can be pretty slow work," Xu said. "To
speed it up, we use molecular marker-assisted selection in the breeding
process. By using molecular mapping and molecular markers, we can do a better
job of identifying and introducing genes that impart positive traits."
This collaboration and hard work resulted in the release of inbred corn lines
in 2003 and 2004. These lines – Tx202, Tx203, Tx204, Tx205
– have unique characteristics such as drought and heat tolerance, earworm
resistance and high yields.
The project has also produced advanced breeding lines and experimental hybrids
that are highly resistant to earworms and yield as well as commercial hybrids.
Better insect resistance enables producers to use fewer pesticides and may open
the door for production of value-added, organic corn.
The research is funded by the Texas Corn Producers Board, the High Plains
Underground Water Conservation District No. 1, the Texas Water Development
Board, the Texas Department of Agriculture's Integrated Pest Management
program, and industry. Some of the work is funded by the United States
Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service pre-harvest control of aflatoxin program and the Germplasm
Enhancement of Maize (GEM) project.
GEM is a cooperative effort of USDA's Agricultural
Research Service, land-grant universities and ag industry. It allows scientists to share access to
new public and private corn germplasms.
"By diversifying the pool of corn germplasm
available to public and private breeders, we can accelerate the process of
developing productive, early-season corn hybrids with multiple stress
resistance," Xu concluded. "This could lead
to hardier, higher-value commercial corns for producers and the food and feed
industries.
Source: SeedQuest.com
19 May 2005
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1.16 An alternative strategy for sustainable pest
resistance in genetically enhanced crops
Researchers report the development of a genetically engineered crop providing
long-term resistance against many insect species. The Bt
gene, which has already been incorporated into potatoes, cotton, and corn,
enables a plant to produce an insecticide. But researchers fear that heavy use
of commercial pesticides containing Bt will breed
resistant bugs. Paul Christou and colleagues modified
the Bt gene to make it more difficult for insects to
evolve resistance. The researchers fused the original Bt
gene with a gene segment called RB, enabling the Bt
toxin bind to more types of molecules in the insects' gut, making it more
lethal. Rice and corn plants with this BtRB fusion
gene were shown to be more toxic to a wider range of insects than plants with Bt alone. Corn plants producing low levels of BtRB killed 75% of stem borer larvae, compared with 17% in
Bt-only plants. Bt-resistant cotton leaf worm was highly susceptible to BtRB plants; 90% of larvae died within 9 days. BtRB was not toxic to all insects, with no effect on the
cereal aphid Rhopalosiphum padi.
The authors say further tests are necessary to make certain BtRB
crops are not toxic or allergenic in humans.
Source: PNAS
Online via SeedQuest.com
16 May 2005
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1.17 Scientists identify genes responsible for 'black
rot' disease in vegetables
Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Large-scale comparative and functional genomics study characterizes
bacterial pathogen responsible for major vegetable crop losses worldwide.
Scientists at four major genomics and plant pathology laboratories in China have collaborated on a project to characterize the causative agent of
"black rot" disease, which is the most serious disease of vegetable
crops worldwide. Their study, which represents the largest comparative and
functional genomics screen for a plant or animal bacterial pathogen to date, is
published online today in the journal Genome
Research.
"Black rot" is caused by the pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas
campestris pathovar campestris (or Xcc). Under favorable conditions (high humidity and temperature), Xcc infects vegetable crops by spreading through the
plants' vascular tissues, turning the veins in their leaves yellow and black,
and causing V-shaped lesions along the margins of the leaves. All vegetables in
the crucifer family, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower,
kale, mustard, radish, rutabaga, and turnip, are potential hosts for Xcc. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana is also
susceptible to Xcc infection. Surprisingly, however,
some wild cruciferous weed species do not manifest the characteristic symptoms
of "black rot" disease when infected.
To date, there is no effective treatment for Xcc
infection, so in hopes of developing a treatment, scientists at four Chinese
institutions (the Institute of Microbiology at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, the Chinese National Human Genome Center
at Shanghai, Guangxi University, and the Chinese
National Human Genome Center at Beijing) have focused
their efforts on characterizing the genes responsible for Xcc
pathogenicity. In their study published today, the
investigators describe the identification of 75 different genes responsible for
Xcc virulence. These genes appear to belong to 13
different functional categories or related metabolic pathways. The researchers
hope that the molecular characterization of these pathogenicity-related
genes will lead to the development of a treatment for "black rot"
disease.
Employing whole-genome comparative genomic approaches, the authors sequenced
the complete genome of an Xcc strain that was
isolated from an infected cauliflower plant in England during the 1950's. They then compared this sequence to a previously
published sequence from a cabbage-derived Xcc strain.
Although the gene content of the two strains was very similar, the authors
identified several genes located on stra