PLANT BREEDING NEWS
EDITION 162
20
December 2005
An Electronic Newsletter of Applied Plant
Breeding
Sponsored by FAO and Cornell University
Clair H. Hershey,
Editor
Best wishes for the holidays, from the editor and advisory
board. Thank you to all who contributed to the newsletter’s success in
2005!
Archived issues available at: http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGP/AGPC/doc/services/pbn.html
(NOTE: cut and paste link if it does not work
directly)
CONTENTS
1. NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RESEARCH
NOTES
1.01 New
approaches needed for agriculture in the developing world
1.02 Open source biotechnology alliance
for international agriculture
1.03 New maps reveal true extent of human footprint on
Earth
1.04 Rice
improvement and poverty reduction
1.05 University of Illinois corn breeder John W. Dudley
to be honored at International Plant Breeding Symposium
1.06 Yield enhancement
and stability are targets of new crop research agreement
1.07 Hybrid rice saves the Philippines
US$ 23.25 million from rice importation
1.08 Bolivia released the first upland
rice variety originated from population improvement
1.09 Canada needs strong variety
development research, says the Western Grains Research Foundation
1.10 Pigeonpea back in
China
1.11
Cornell University and Indian Council of Agricultural Research sign new
agreement for agricultural development
1.12 Kazakhstan and Siberia connect with CIMMYT
to improve their wheat
1.13 CIMMYT and partners in Nepal make progress against
foliar
blight in wheat
1.14 Swiss vote for ban on GM
cultivation
1.15
China leads in research of genetically modified plants
1.16 Fishing for the origins of genome
complexity: deciphering a paradox of evolution
1.17 KU Leuven
: Center for Conservation
of Vegetatively Propagated Plants
1.18 Research maps maize gene diversity
1.19 Animal gene renders tobacco
resistant to parasitic weed
1.20
USDA identifies rice lines that resist straighthead
disease
1.21
Millet gets mildew defense from within
1.22 Lr19 resistance in wheat becomes susceptible to
Puccinia triticina in India
1.23 Selection of spelt varieties for
organic production underway in New South Wales
1.24 ARS
progresses on anti-aphid
soy
1.25 CSIRO
researchers are investigating how to use genes to produce larger seeds across a
wide range of crops
1.26 Anyway you slice it, tomatoes cut through drought with new
gene
1.27 Gene
reported to confer drought tolerance
1.28 Expanding the pool of PCR
-based
markers for oat
1.29 Cancer, genes and broccoli - study of genetic differences
in cancer protection
1.30 Global push to decipher potato DNA code
1.31 Alabama A&M
University scientists eliminate major peanut allergen
1.32 Iowa State University plant scientist leads national
effort to use metabolomics
to unlock gene functions
1.33 Double fertilisation
in flowering plants in the context of plant breeding
1.34 Study finds that
nutritionally enhanced rice reduces iron deficiency
1.35 Update 12-2005 of FAO-BiotechNews
(excerpts)
1.36 CheckBiotech.org
: links to selected articles
2.
PUBLICATIONS
2.01 Triticale
Improvement and Production
3. WEB RESOURCES
3.01 Redesigned U.S. National
Agricultural Library website
brings fresh look, swift
access
3.02 The
Sesame and Safflower Newsletter No. 20
4 GRANTS AVAILABLE
(None submitted)
5 POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS
(None submitted)
6 MEETINGS, COURSES AND
WORKSHOPS
7
EDITOR'S NOTES
=========================
1. NEWS,
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RESEARCH NOTES
1.01
New
approaches needed for agriculture in the developing world
Enhancing
agricultural productivity in developing countries requires new approaches that
provide incentives and funding mechanisms that will translate new innovations in
plant science into concrete benefits for poor farmers. This was articulated by
Deborah Delmer of the Rockefeller Foundation in "Agriculture in the developing
world: Connecting innovations in plant research to downstream applications",
published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America.
Delmer analyzes the constraints and
opportunities presented by the challenge to translate new discoveries in plant
sciences into successes in agriculture for the benefit of the poor. In
particular, she notes the lack of systems that promote and reward efforts to
"create a strong interface between fundamental and applied research in support
of global agriculture."
View the full paper online at
http://www.pnas.org
through its open access option. Email Deborah Delmer at
ddelmer@rockfound.org.
Source:
CropBiotech Update, 3 November 2005
Contributed by Margaret Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.02
Open source biotechnology alliance
for international agriculture
CAMBIA & IRRI (The
International Rice Research Institute) announced a major joint venture to
advance the BiOS Initiative - a new strategy that will galvanize agricultural
research focused on poverty alleviation and hunger reduction. The venture is
catalyzed by a 2.55M USD grant to CAMBIA from The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Norway.
The BiOS Initiative – Biological Innovation for Open Society- is
often called Open Source Biotechnology. The BiOS model has resonance with the
Open Source software movement, famous for such successful efforts as Linux. Open
Source software has spurred faster innovation, greater community participation,
and new robust business models that break monopolies and foster fair
competition. BiOS targets parallel challenges that limit the effective use of
modern life sciences in agriculture to only a few multinational corporations.
"New technologies are increasingly tangled in complex webs of patent and
other legal rights, and are usually tailored for wealthy countries and
well-heeled scientists," said IRRI's Director General, Robert Zeigler. "Half the
world depends on rice as a staple food – but this also means half the world's
potential innovators could be brought to bear on the challenges of rice
production, given the right toolkits – and the rights to use them".
In
the joint work, CAMBIA's Patent Lens, already one of the most comprehensive
costfree full-text patent databases in the world, will be extended to include
patents in major rice-growing countries, including China, Korea, and India.
These same countries are growing powerhouses of innovation, poised to play lead
roles in the next generation of biological problem solving.
The Patent
Lens will also develop analyses and foster the capacity in the developing world
to create patent maps of the key emerging technologies that could be constrained
by complex intellectual property rights worldwide, including the rice genome
itself. These patent 'landscapes' will be used to guide the development of
improved technology toolkits in a new, inclusive manner.
Says Richard
Jefferson, CAMBIA's CEO, "It's not so much about getting access to old patented
technology – it's about forging collaborations to develop better, more powerful
tools within a 'protected commons' to get different problem solvers to the
table."
These could for example be tools for precise, natural genetic
enhancements, using non-GM approaches (for example, homologous recombination),
new plant breeding methods such as marker assisted selection, or even true
breeding hybrids of crop species that would allow farmers in developing
countries to use hybrid seed year after year. Adds Jefferson, "Scientists and
farmers need better options for problem solving, that meet their priorities,
work within their constraints, build on their ingenuity, and maintain their
independence; this is what BiOS is all about."
IRRI, an autonomous
international institute based in Los Banos, The Philippines, is one of the
foundation institutions of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research), and is dedicated to improving the lives and livelihoods
of resource poor rice producers and consumers worldwide.
IRRI has been
at the forefront of rice research for almost thirty years, delivering new rice
varieties and practices to rice farmers throughout Asia and the developing
world. Now, rice has become the model system for grain crops worldwide, with its
entire DNA sequence known; but the 'mining' – and patenting - of this genetic
resource and the possibility that the tools to improve it could be restricted by
broad patents has raised legitimate concerns that must be met head-on.
CAMBIA, based in Canberra Australia, is an independent non-profit
institute that invents and shares enabling technologies and new practices for
life sciences and intellectual property management to further social equity.
CAMBIA is the founder of the BiOS Initiative (
www.bios.net), the Patent Lens (
www.patentlens.net) and the online
collaboration platform BioForge (
www.bioforge.net). CAMBIA published the first
explicit 'open source' biotechnology toolkit in the Journal "Nature" in February
2005. Included in that publication was the technology 'TransBacter' in which the
technique of plant gene transfer by Agrobacterium, covered by hundreds of
patents, was bypassed using other symbiotic bacteria to add beneficial genes to
rice and other plants. This and other technologies have been made freely
available under BiOS licenses.
Work by IRRI, CAMBIA scientists, and
others in an online collaboration community, will optimize this process and
other open source enabling technologies, ensuring their availability to
scientists throughout the developed and developing world.
CAMBIA: Dr
Richard Jefferson, CEO,
r.jefferson@cambia.orgContact:
Stephanie Goodrick (
s.goodrick@cambia.org)
Source:
EurekAlert.org
7-Dec-2005
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1.03
New maps reveal true extent of human footprint on
Earth
SAN FRANCISCO - As global populations swell, farmers are
cultivating more and more land in a desperate bid to keep pace with the
ever-intensifying needs of humans.
As a result, agricultural activity
now dominates more than a third of the Earth's landscape and has emerged as one
of the central forces of global environmental change, say scientists at the
Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Navin Ramankutty, an assistant scientist at SAGE,
says, "the real question is: how can we continue to produce food from the land
while preventing negative environmental consequences such as deforestation,
water pollution and soil erosion?"
To better understand that crucial
trade-off, Ramankutty and other SAGE researchers are tracking the changing
patterns of agricultural land use around the world, including a look at related
factors such as global crop yields and fertilizer use. Distilling that
information into computer-generated maps, the scientists will present their
early findings during the fall meeting (Dec. 5-9, 2005) of the American
Geophysical Union.
"In the act of making these maps we are asking: where
is the human footprint on the Earth?" says Amato Evan, a SAGE researcher who
merged available census and satellite data to create visuals reflecting the
reach of pasture and croplands worldwide. Chad Monfreda, a graduate student at
SAGE, is similarly mapping the location, range and yields of over 150 individual
crops reared around the planet.
The exercise is already beginning to
cast light on some emerging trends. Countries such as Argentina and Brazil, for
instance, have increasingly cleared forests to grow soybean, a legume that has
never been a traditional crop of Latin America. Scientists say the surge in
soybean production there has a lot to do with the booming demand for soy all the
way at the other end of the world - in China. Meanwhile, Monfreda notes,
long-time soybean farmers in the U.S. - the world's top soybean producer - are
growing increasingly insecure about their place in the global market.
But scientists risk missing important regional and local trends by
taking only a global approach to land use change. "There is still a large
'disconnect' between global, top-down views of changing planetary conditions,
and the local, bottom-up perspective of how humans affect and live in a changing
environment," says Jonathan Foley, director of SAGE.
To help bridge that
gap, SAGE researchers are working towards a new "Earth Collaboratory," an
unprecedented Internet-based data bank that would simultaneously draw on the
knowledge of global scientists, local environmentalists and everyday citizens.
Adds Foley: "[The Collaboratory] will truly be a brave new experiment that
effectively bridges science, decision-making and real-world environmental
practice - collectively envisioning a new way to live sustainably."
For
more on SAGE's work on global land use and land cover, visit
www.sage.wisc.edu/iamdata.
Contact: Navin Ramankutty
nramanku@wisc.eduUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonSource:
EurekAlert.org
5 December 2005
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1.04
Rice improvement and poverty reduction
While the
world's trading nations remain deadlocked on how to move ahead with agricultural
reforms that could benefit the poor farmers of the developing world, research
just published has confirmed details of a proven strategy to reduce poverty in
the planet's two most populous countries, China and India.
The research
shows that, in 1999, for every US$1 million invested at the Philippines-based
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), more than 800 and 15,000 rural
poor were lifted above the poverty line in China and India, respectively. It
also confirmed that such poverty reduction effects were even larger in the
earlier years of the Green Revolution.
Presented in a peer-reviewed paper
in the November issue of the journal Agricultural Economics, the research is
robust confirmation of the very positive impact of rice research on poverty
alleviation. "This research is important because it provides solid, additional
evidence that should give all poor rice farmers hope because we know now that by
providing them with new technologies via rice research we can lift them out of
poverty," said IRRI Director General Robert S. Zeigler.
The paper's lead
author, Dr. Shenggen Fan, works at IRRI's sister institute, the Washington-based
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). In his paper, Dr. Fan
said: "The results indicate that rice varietal improvement research has
contributed tremendously to increases in rice production, accounting for 14 to
24 percent of the total production value over the last two decades in both
countries. Rice research has also helped reduce large numbers of rural poor and
IRRI played a crucial role in these successes."
Dr. Fan explained that
new technology resulting from agricultural research can help to alleviate
poverty in several ways. First, following the releases of new and improved
varieties, farmers can produce more output at the same cost (or, conversely, the
same level of output at a lower cost), which directly improves farmers'
income.
Second, the diffusion of modern varieties results in lower food
prices, as demonstrated in several studies. This is critical given that the
poorest people spend a large share of their income on food.
Third, the
productivity consequences of improved varieties resulted in greater demand for
labor and wages. For example, earlier research found that the poor benefited
from new technology as a result of greater employment opportunities as well as
the upward pressure on wage rates in the labor market.
Explaining the
large difference in impact between the 15,000 lifted out of poverty in India and
the 800 in China, Dr. Fan said this was because China had already achieved rapid
and very large reductions in poverty before 1999. "But the overall total
reduction in rural poor through rice research in China has been much larger than
in India," if looked at over the past 20 years instead of just
1999.
"Ending poverty among the world's poor is an enormously complex and
challenging task," Dr. Zeigler emphasized. "But it's very important that we
recognize what strategies really do have an impact so we can focus our resources
on such techniques, and rice research is clearly one of these."
Dr. Fan's
research follows earlier work by IRRI that showed that, in the four decades from
1961 to 2000, while the population of Asia's developing nations more than
doubled, from 1.6 billion to 3.4 billion, efforts to avert famine resulted in
the land area devoted to rice expanding by 30 percent, from 107 million hectares
to 139 million hectares.
Rice production grew by an impressive 170
percent, from 199 million tonnes in 1961 to 540 million tonnes in 2000, thanks
largely to the introduction of improved rice varieties. This unprecedented yield
improvement not only helped millions avoid starvation but also saved thousands
of hectares of fragile natural habitats from falling under the plow to create
new rice fields.
That IRRI research team, led by senior economist Dr.
Mahabub Hossain, also found that the total annual gains from the adoption of
these modern varieties now stands at $10.8 billion – an astounding figure
considering that it is many times the total investment in rice research made
over the same 40-year period by IRRI and its many partners in the national
agricultural research and extension systems of Asia's rice-producing
nations.
Providing further evidence is an independent study of the impact
of improved rice varieties and other crops over the past 40 years that showed
they have significantly reduced prices for poor consumers, saved thousands of
hectares of forests from being turned into farmland, and reduced the number of
malnourished children.
The research, led by respected American economist
Dr. Robert Evenson from Yale University, was the first major attempt to assess
the economic impact of improved crop varieties, not just rice but also other
important food staples such as wheat, maize, barley, cassava, and potato. Dr.
Hans Gregersen, the head of a panel that reviewed the research, described the
study by Dr. Evenson and his huge team of researchers as a "milestone" and a
"monumental effort."
Dr. Evenson and his team found that the development
of improved rice varieties between 1970 and 1995 had substantial impact in four
major areas. Their findings indicate that, were it not for the development of
improved varieties,
-Rice prices for consumers could have been up to 41
percent higher.
-Rice-producing nations would be importing up to 8 percent
more food.
-Millions of hectares of forests and other fragile ecosystems
would have been lost.
-Between 1.5 and 2 percent more children would have
been malnourished in developing countries. This seemingly small figure in
percentage terms translates into millions of better-fed children in actual
terms.
However, Dr. Fan warns in his research conclusions that most of
these benefits are the results of research conducted in the 1960s, 1970s, and
1980s. For both China and India, the increase in experimental yield slowed down
in the 1990s.
"One of the reasons is a lack of agricultural research
investment at both the national and international levels," he warns. "The budget
of the International Rice Research Institute has also been severely cut in
recent years. IRRI's budget of $32.6 million in 2000 was the lowest in 20 years,
and was only 63 percent of its peak of $51.6 million (measured in 2000 prices)
in 1990."
IRRI Director General Dr. Zeigler said that, unfortunately,
this trend has continued until this year. "In 2005, IRRI continued to receive
cuts in donor funding. We hope that this new research will help us finally turn
this trend around so we can continue to help the world's poor rice farmers and
consumers achieve better lives."
Title: National and
international agricultural research and rural poverty: the case of rice research
in India and China
Authors: Fan, SG; Chan-Kang, C; Qian, KM;
Krishnaiah, K
Source: Agricultural Economics, 33 (3): 369-379 Suppl. S
Nov. 2005
For information, contact Duncan Macintosh, IRRI,
d.macintosh@cgiar.org or Johnny Goloyugo
at
j.goloyugo@cgiar.org IRRI
Home (
www.irri.org).
Soure: EurekAlert.org
16 December2005
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1.05
University of Illinois corn breeder John W. Dudley to be honored at International Plant Breeding
Symposium
Urbana, Illinois
Plant breeding scientists from around
world will gather in Mexico City during Aug. 20-25, 2006 for the
First International Plant Breeding
Symposium, which will honor John W. Dudley, emeritus professor of plant
genetics at the
University of Illinois (U of
I).
The sessions will assess the state of the science of plant breeding
and examine the future prospects for the field. The event is being organized by
the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Iowa State
University, Monsanto, and Pioneer Hi-Bred International.
Prior to his
retirement, Dudley was the inaugural holder of the Renessen Endowed Chair in
Corn Quality Trait Breeding and Genetics. He is most well known for his research
on the long-term selection of corn for protein and oil at the U of I. Other work
has focused on improvement in yield and disease resistance, use of quantitative
genetics in plant breeding and on applications of biotechnology to plant
improvement.
Dudley has published more than 155 scientific papers and
served on the editorial boards of the journal Crop Science and The Brazilian
Journal of Genetics. He has received the DeKalb Crop Sciences Distinguished
Career Award, the National Commercial Council of Plant Breeders Award, the Crop
Science Research Award and the National Agri-Marketing Association award for
contributions to Agricultural Science.
He is a fellow of the American
Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. He also served as associate head of
the Department of Crop Sciences at the U of I.
Details on the seminar and
full registration information are available on the Internet at
www.intlplantbreeding.com. (see also
announcement also in “Meetings” section of this newsletter)
Source:
SeedQuest.com
8 December 2005
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1.06
Yield enhancement and stability are targets of new
crop research agreement
Adelaide, Australia
Yield enhancement and
stability are targets of new crop research agreement between The Australian
Centre for Plant Functional Genomics and Pioneer Hi-Bred International
The Australian Centre for Plant Functional
Genomics Pty Ltd (ACPFG), based in Adelaide, signed a research collaboration
agreement focusing on yield enhancement and stability in crops with
Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.,
headquartered in Johnston, Iowa, USA.
Improving plant productivity,
including the ability to cope with abiotic (environmental) stresses such as
drought and nitrogen limitations, is a target for the new collaborative program.
The overall goal is to provide farmers with
better crop varieties.
"This is an excellent opportunity for the scientists in both
organisations to develop outcomes relevant to the Australian wheat and barley
industries and the US maize and soybean industry," said Professor Peter
Langridge, Chief Executive Officer of the ACPFG.
"Increasing harvestable
yield for our farmer customers is still the main focus of our research at
Pioneer. This collaboration will help us to learn more about plant development
and productivity under drought and nitrogen stress and allow us to bring
dramatically improved products to market in the near future," said Bill Niebur,
Vice President of Crop Genetics Research and Development at Pioneer.
The
terms of the agreement give the ACPFG commercial rights to the collaboration's
research outcomes in wheat and barley, while Pioneer will have commercial rights
in maize and soybeans. Each will have commercial rights in
other crops such
as rice and sorghum.
"There is considerable scientific synergy between
Pioneer and the ACPFG and we expect that this will be an important collaborative
program that will grow into new areas over time," Professor Langridge said.
It is estimated that at least a dozen new scientists will work at the
ACPFG as a result of the new collaboration, reinforcing the ACPFG's position as
an internationally recognised crop genomics research facility and one of the
largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
The ACPFG is based at the University
of Adelaide's Waite Campus. It was founded in 2002, primarily with funds from
the Australian Research Council, Grain Research Development Council and South
Australian government.
"We're particularly pleased because this deal is
the first major agreement with a large US commercial company for the ACPFG, a
great achievement given we've been operating for less than three years,"
Professor Langridge said.
Source: SeedQuest.com
7 December
2005
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1.07
Hybrid rice saves the Philippines US$ 23.25 million from rice
importation
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, The Philippines
A
staggering amount of US$ 23.25 million has been saved from rice importation by
the government’s hybrid rice commercialization program, a study of the
Philippine Rice Research
Institute [PhilRice] showed.
Led by Flordeliza H. Bordey, Dr. Leonardo
A. Gonzales and PhilRice executive director Dr. Leo S. Sebastian, PhilRice
researchers observed that government investments on the hybrid rice
commercialization have incurred financial and economic benefit-cost ratios of
1.56 and 1.13, respectively.
These findings suggest that the benefits
from hybrid rice derived by the country have outweighed the costs of the
program.
Covering the period from 2002 wet season to 2004 dry season, the
study showed that hybrid rice production is now one of the best options to
increase farm productivity and income among the technologies available today.
On-farm data show that it can increase yield by 8 to 14 percent, as more hybrid
rice farmers harvest 5 tons a hectare (t/ha) and above than inbred rice
farmers.
However, although hybrid rice performance is generally superior
over inbred rice in terms of yield, this performance varies from place to place,
the researchers said. This implies the location specificity of hybrid rice
technology.
Thus, the researchers suggest it would be better to promote
the existing hybrid rice varieties in more suitable areas like Isabela, Davao
del Norte, Davao del Sur and Nueva Ecija. However, research and development for
location-specific crop management practices, and adaptation trials of new hybrid
rice varieties could be done in less suitable areas.
It was also observed
that hybrid rice has a price advantage of around 25 centavos per kilogram over
inbred rice, indicating a good market acceptability of milled hybrid rice due to
its good eating quality. However, the researchers said this phenomenon is unique
in the Philippines as price of hybrid rice in other countries are usually
discounted because of poor quality.
In effect, breeding of better hybrid
rice varieties that are high-yielding and have good eating quality is necessary
to preserve this price advantage and encourage more farmers to plant hybrid
rice. However, strict implementation of grain standards should be done to ensure
that incentives from marketing of quality rice will trickle down to the farm
level, the PhilRice researchers stressed.
It was also observed that
although production cost for hybrid rice increased due to higher seed,
fertilizer, pesticide and labor costs, the difference in production cost per
cavan has narrowed as hybrid farmers have become more familiar with the
technology. This resulted in higher net income from hybrid rice production than
from inbred rice.
Even without seed subsidy, net income from hybrid rice
was observed to be higher specifically during dry seasons when photosynthetic
activity of the plants is high. This shows that although subsidy played an
important role in the initial adoption process, its gradual phase-out can be
programmed now, since farmers would still have incentives to use hybrid rice
even without the subsidy.
Aside from impacts on farm productivity and
income, hybrid rice promotion also created sequential adoption of other
component technologies in rice production that have been ignored in the past.
For one, farmers are fast-learning that 20 to 25 kg of seeds is enough to plant
a hectare using transplanted method of crop establishment. In addition, farmers
now also adopt synchronous planting, use of 400 sq m seedbeds, as well as
straight and row planting. Hybrid rice use has also encouraged farmers to use
organic fertilizers specifically in the seedbeds.
The government has
played an important role in the initial dissemination of hybrid rice technology
and its investments had paid-off because its efforts had already created a
certain demand for the technology, the researchers said. This opportunity can
now be taken by the private sector to lead in the next phase of hybrid rice
commercialization as the government moves away from its commercialization
activities.
As a result, government resources that would be freed from
these activities could be allocated in research, extension and technical
assistance to farmers, the researchers said.
Source:
SeedQuest.com
November 23, 2005
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1.08
Bolivia released the first upland rice variety originated
from population improvement
Roger Taboada (1), René Guzman (2), Juana
Viruez (2), Victor Hugo Callaú (2). Marc Châtel (3), Yolima Ospina (3),
Francisco. Rodriguez (3), Victor Hugo Lozano (3)
Rice in Bolivia is of
undoubted importance as part of the basic diet. Rice consumption, now 35kg
annually per capita, continues rising. The State of Santa Cruz, which is
the main rice producer in the country, uses the conventional mechanized
system. Santa Cruz possesses an area of approximately 75%, and 80% of the
earnings of the country’s total production. Other production systems such
as the
slash and burn system is employed in other production
states. Rice production in Bolivia is for auto consumption and for
internal markets.
The growth of the rice sector in Bolivia is limited due
to the lack of more productive varieties for each production system. The
rice breeding program led by the Centro de Investigacion Agricola Tropical (CIAT
Santa Cruz-Bolivia) is seeking to provide producers with more adapted and
productive rice varieties. Among the most recent achievements of this
programme is the release of a new rice variety for the upland system manual and
the mechanised. This is the first rice variety developed within the
framework of Bolivia and the population improvement project of the Centro de
Cooperación Internacional en Investigación Agrícola para el Desarrollo (CIRAD
Montpellier-Francia) and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT,
Palmira-Colombia).
This new variety was originated from the PCT-4
population and is labelled with the code
PCT-4\0\0\1>S2-1584-4-M-5-M-6-M-M. Its development was achieved thanks
to the population improvement work of the CIRAD/CIAT. The line was
selected in the Estación Experimental La Libertad, Villavicencio, Colombia, in
the first cycle of recombination of the PCT-4. To the formation of the
PCT-4 population the following genetic varieties/lines contributed: IRAT 104,
IRAT 257, Batatais, IRAT 199, Ligero, IR53167, A8-394, 5 lines of the plant
breeding programme of the CIAT and the japonica population CNA-IRAT A.
Fertile plants were selected in the population PCT-4 to derive segregating lines
through pedigree. Advanced lines were sent to Bolivia for performance
evaluation under local conditions.
At CIAT Santa Cruz the line
PCT-4\0\0\1>S2-1584-4-M-5-M-6-M-M was evaluated for agronomic traits and it
was identified as well adapted to both the manual and the mechanized
system. The variety’s qualities such as tolerance to drought and good
yield were important features for small farmers because it allows crop
rotation in the same area during one single year. These qualities also
allow trading the harvest material at better rates since during the beginning of
the harvesting season there is not much rice in the market.
The public
sector, represented by CIAT Santa Cruz, and the private rice sector are joining
efforts to release the new variety in 2006. Seed multiplication fields,
field days and technical workshops are taking place during
2005.
------------------
1. CIAT resercher in Santa-Cruz until 2003.
Currently working in the Asociación de Productores de Arroz (ASPAR) Address:
Calle Humberto Vasquez M. No 58 "A". Santa cruz de la Sierra – Bolivia.
rogertaboada@hotmail.com 2.
Researchers of the Centro de Investigación Agrícola Tropical (CIAT) Address:
Avenida Ejercito Nal. Nº 131, c.c. 247 Santa Cruz de la Sierra – Bolivia
juanitavj@hotmail.com
e
www.ciatbo.org 3.
Reserchers for the joint project between the Centro de Cooperación Internacional
en Investigación Agrícola para el Desarrollo (CIRAD Montpellier-Francia) and
the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT Palmira-Colombia).
Address: Apartado Aereo 6713. Cali. Colombia.
m.chatel@cgiar.org
and
y.ospina@cgiar.orgSubmitted by
Elcio Guimaraes
AGPC/FAO
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1.09
Canada needs strong variety development research, says the
Western Grains Research Foundation
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Public
research to develop new varieties of crops is an outstanding investment that
should be strengthened to help farmers succeed and to ensure a competitive
Canadian agriculture and agri-food industry.
That is the message
Western Grains Research Foundation
(WGRF) is delivering to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) as part of
cross-country consultations by the department to update priorities for
agriculture and agri-food research.
The farmer funded and directed WGRF
is the largest funding partner in AAFC variety development research. This
spring, WGRF reached a new five-year partnership with AAFC that represents a $40
million investment in wheat and barley breeding programs.
"There is no
simpler test of value in agriculture than what a farmer plants," says Dr. Keith
Degenhardt, a Hughenden, Alta., producer and Chair of WGRF. "Producers only grow
crop varieties they know make sense for their operations and that meet clear
market demands. Canada needs strong variety development research to provide this
critical anchor to all of our production and market success."
With
genetics established as a primary battleground for agriculture competitiveness
around the world, this research has never been more important to protect the
multi-billion-dollar markets Canadian agriculture has earned, and to both create
and capitalize on emerging opportunities, says Degenhardt. "A key component to
building a healthy farming environment is a crop breeding system that ensures
farmers continue to maintain access to new varieties with as little impedance as
possible."
Farmers rely heavily on public research to deliver a regular
turnover of varieties with the yield, quality, disease and pest resistance, and
other characteristics necessary to meet increasingly sophisticated production
and market demands.
Variety development research is also crucial to drive
innovations important to the Canadian public, such as lowering the use of
pesticides and other agricultural inputs, improving environmentally sustainable
production and protecting food safety.
This research is also the anchor
of innovation - it provides the tailored characteristics needed to add value and
both develop and capture new market opportunities.
"There is arguably no
better public research investment than variety development to help our farmers
and to make sure we get the most benefit - economically, socially and
environmentally - from our agriculture and agri-food industry," says
Degenhardt.
WGRF is made up of 18 diverse agricultural organizations
representing the vast majority of Prairie crop producers. The major funding
sources it administers are the Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds, which for the
past decade have been invested in research to develop new wheat and barley
varieties.
Under WGRF's renewed partnership with AAFC, the department
will invest $24.5 million in wheat research and $3.15 million for barley over
the next five years, and WGRF will provide an additional $12.5 million. The
agreement, which is renewable for an additional five years, follows the original
WGRF-AAFC 10-year agreement signed in 1994.
WGRF would like to see the
AAFC commitment to this research extended and strengthened, says Lanette
Kuchenski, WGRF Executive Director. "The WGRF partnership with AAFC in funding
this research has been an outstanding success. We would like to see the variety
development effort not only be maintained, but increased to further capitalize
on the proven high returns and fundamental role of this
research."
Recently, WGRF commissioned an independent study to examine
the return on investment from the past 10 years of Wheat and Barley Check-off
investment in wheat and barley variety development programs.
The study,
lead by University of Saskatchewan agricultural economists Dr. Hartley Furtan
and Dr. Richard Gray, identified a minimum four-to-one return on investment for
wheat breeding and 12-to-one return for barley breeding (the higher barley
return is due to the smaller acres of barley). The results support the findings
of many economic studies of variety development research conducted over the
years, which consistently show major returns that are arguably the highest and
most consistent among any area of agricultural research.
More information
on WGRF and the Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds is available at
www.westerngrains.com.
Source:
SeedQuest.com
21 November 2005
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1.10
Pigeonpea back in China
Pigeonpea
is an essential ingredient in Indian cooking. Next door in China, however,
pigeonpea
is used to hold up the soil in mountainous regions, and to rear insects. When
the latter industry collapsed,
pigeonpea
cultivation decreased in Chinese farmlands.
With help from the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT),
China has once again started to cultivate improved varieties of the crop. Work
started back in 1997, when they were first tested in selected locations in the
country. Today,
pigeonpea
is estimated to be grown on around 50,000 acres in China alone. Strong research
programs on the crop have also been established by the Institute of Resources
Insects of the Chinese Academy of Forestry in Kunming, Yunnan and at Guangxi
Academy of Agriculture Sciences (GxAAS), Nanning, Guangxi.
According to
Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, the impact of the institute's
varieties in China recognizes the significance of
pigeonpea
as a crop with many useful qualities. Among others, it can also be used as
animal fodder, which is important to the rural economy in Southern
China.
For further information, contact Dr KB Saxena at
k.saxena@cgiar.org.
Source:
CropBiotech Update 11 November 2005
Contributed by Margaret Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.11
Cornell University and Indian
Council of Agricultural Research sign new agreement for agricultural
development
Ithaca, New York
Exchanging scientific information
freely, forging cooperative research, hosting Indian executives, students and
faculty, and sharing agricultural biotechnology to promote the development and
use of drought- and pest-resistant crops. These were just a few of the
collaborations that were strengthened when Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch
Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at
Cornell University, signed a renewed
memorandum of understanding with officials representing the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research on
Dec. 12.
The agreement was signed during a visit to Cornell by Indian
senior executives and government officials on the board of the newly formed
Knowledge Initiative in Agricultural Education, Teaching, Research, Service and
Commercial Linkages (KIA).
"KIA is an initiative, signed between U.S.
President George Bush and India's Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh in July, that
provides momentum to re-energize the longstanding tradition of knowledge
exchange between the two countries," said Ronnie Coffman, director of
International Programs in CALS.
"We at Cornell are incredibly fortunate
that Cornell is so high on the KIA team's list for collaborations that the
delegation chose to visit only Cornell on this trip," added Coffman.
The
Indian team members visited labs and faculty members associated with Cornell's
Institute for Genomic Diversity, Department of Applied Economics and Management,
Cornell Cooperative Extension, organic agriculture, Mann Library, Veterinary
College, rice mapping, poultry program, food retail program, Food Science
Incubator and Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and
Commercialization.
"We are very active in agricultural research in India,
and renewing a memo of understanding with them builds on our more than 50 years
of Cornell-India collaborations concerning agricultural education and research,"
said K.V. Raman, associate director of international programs in
CALS.
Among Cornell-India links are:
-extension/outreach services to
Indian farmers on agricultural technologies;
-an international agriculture
course that sends 50 Cornell students to India each January to tour with Indian
agricultural students and faculty;
-the Agri/Food Business Management Program
and the Food Retail Executive Program that bring high-level Indian policy
planners, food industry CEOs and faculty to Cornell each year;
-National
biotechnology symposia, conducted with the government of India, to inform Indian
stakeholders with emerging trends in global biotechnology;
-the Rice-Wheat
Consortium and System for Rice Intensification programs to promote rice and
wheat production in India;
-the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project to
address such issues as pest control, drought and intellectual property
technology management in India.
Many of these programs are in
collaboration with Sathguru Management Consultants, an India-based firm that
represents CALS in India.
Source: SeedQuest.com
13 December
2005
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1.12
Kazakhstan and Siberia connect with CIMMYT to improve their
wheat
El Batán, Mexico
Wheat exchange network breeds new life into
varietal development: Kazakhstan and Siberia connect with CIMMYT to improve
their wheat
Grigoriy Sereda, Head of the Breeding Department at the
Central Kazakhstan Agricultural Research Center, is nothing if not direct. “The
future of our breeding program relies on KASIB. Without it, germplasm exchange
would be nonexistent. And without germplasm exchange, crop breeding cannot move
forward.”
KASIB, the Kazakhstan-Siberia Network for Spring Wheat
Improvement, was established in 2000 as the brainchild of CIMMYT regional
representative
Alexei Morgounov. In
the former Soviet Union, there was considerable seed exchange among the
republics and interactions among breeders and crop research institutes. But
after the break-up of the U.S.S.R., many scientists found themselves isolated
professionally and with little access to breeding lines from outside sources.
Through KASIB, CIMMYT, with modest funding from GTZ, a German development
agency, and the International Cooperation for Agricultural Research in Central
Asia and the Caucasus, endeavored to rectify the situation.
The
principles of the network are simple: participants share breeding lines and data
and abide by a Wheat Workers Code of Ethics (a declaration by the U.S. National
Wheat Improvement Committee). Aside from active exchange and evaluation of
experimental lines, the network publishes trial results and proceedings from an
annual meeting where scientists from participating institutions present and
discuss their work.
Each of the 17 participating institutions submits
2-4 recent varieties or breeding lines to CIMMYT’s Kazakhstan office, where seed
for the trials and the field books are prepared and distributed to cooperators
in April, prior to planting. The trials are grown at the diverse sites with
three replications. Data from trials are submitted to CIMMYT, where they are
summarized, published in Russian and English, and distributed to cooperators and
others. The trials are a key source of lines and varieties carrying important
traits such as drought tolerance, disease resistance (primarily to leaf rust and
septoria leaf blotch), and improved grain quality.
Illustrating the
point, in 2000 northern Kazakhstan and Siberia suffered a leaf rust outbreak,
Morgounov recounts. None of the 80 modern varieties and lines being tested
showed resistance to the pathogen. This clearly indicated a pressing need for
the breeders to address, and one for which CIMMYT was well equipped to assist.
Another facet of KASIB is an innovative shuttle breeding program between
the network and CIMMYT-Mexico. Following several years of trials, says CIMMYT
wheat breeder Richard Trethowan, scientists in the network select elite local
lines and varieties with promising agronomic or quality traits and send seed to
Mexico to be crossed with CIMMYT materials that possess leaf rust resistance and
other locally-desirable traits, such as a tall profile and photoperiod
sensitivity. The lines are crossed with a Kazakh parent or to another Kazakh or
Canadian line and returned to Kazakhstan and Siberia for additional breeding to
ensure adaptation to local environments.
Once adapted, Trethowen
continues, the line can then be sent back to Mexico for further crossing and
improvement, hence the term shuttle. The system not only allows incorporation of
traits not found in the region’s wheat, but accelerates breeding by allowing
multiple cycles per year. The first full cycle of the shuttle was completed in
2004, with the first advanced lines reaching Mexico. Trethowen credits KASIB for
enabling the approach to be applied in Central Asia and for benefits that accrue
to CIMMYT wheat research through the added genetic diversity introduced from
Kazakh and Siberian linesdiversity that may well serve farmers elsewhere in
the developing world.
For Sereda, KASIB has breathed fresh life into his
work: for example, he has received more than 200 entries to plant through the
network and has selected about 60 for crosses. He is particularly enthused about
the experimental wheats from CIMMYT’s wide-cross researchderived from
crosses with wild relatives of wheatreceived through the KASIB-CIMMYT
shuttle. After 35 years of plant breeding, the wide-cross collection brings an
entirely new tool on which to focus his vast experience. And he thanks KASIB
meetings and publications for providing a forum to share his knowledge and more
quickly move improved wheats to the farmers of Kazakhstan.
Source:
CIMMYT
E-News, vol 2 no. 11, November 2005, via SeedQuest.com
November, 2005
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1.13
CIMMYT
and partners in Nepal make progress against foliar blight in wheat
El
Batán, Mexico
CIMMYT and partners in Nepal have identified new sources of
genetic resistance to a disease that makes wheat plants looks as though they
have been through a drought. The symptoms of foliar blight result from fungal
infections, either spot blotch or the less well-known but related tan spot.
These pathogens dry the wheat plant and shrivel grain. In the warm areas of
South Asia, that appearance can lead farmers to blame drought rather than an
infection. By “knowing the enemy,” as CIMMYT partner
Ram Sharma puts it, it is easier
to win the fight against the disease.
CIMMYT pathologist
Etienne Duveiller and Sharma, who have
both done work on the pathogens, have found an effective method to select for
resistance: finding wheat with a heavy grain weight, early maturity, and
resistance to both pathogens. Wheat that carries these three traits together
makes for wheat with higher resistance. Through regional collaborative trials in
South Asia, they have bred and identified wheat lines that look promising. While
better than anything previously seen in the area, these wheats can still suffer
up to 35% yield lossesand have a huge impact on resource poor farmers who
grow their wheat for food, as most do in Nepal.
When the temperature
soars to 26-28°C, however, no wheat can resist the disease. This is why it is so
important to find wheat that matures early to avoid the abrupt rise in
temperature accompanied by hot winds in late March and April. This becomes
difficult as most farmers in the region are delayed planting wheat as they wait
for their rice harvest to finish and the paddies to dry up.
In addition
to genetic resistance, solutions can come in the form of good management.
Surface seeding, when seed is broadcast on the mud directly after the rice
harvest, allows earlier planting and gives the wheat crop a jump start on the
heat. Crop rotation and soil nutrients are important because healthy soils help
the crop resist the disease. Also, Duveiller and Sharma have found that wheat is
better able to withstand the disease with proper soil moisture.
The
CIMMYT-Nepal team expects that these new sources of resistance, coupled with
good management practices, will limit the destructiveness of this disease. They
know it can be donefoliar blight has already been substantially reduced in
areas of South Asia such as Bangladesh through better wheat varieties. The
challenge is to sustain progressive control of this threat across the warm wheat
growing areas of South Asia.
Source:
CIMMYT
E-News, vol 2 no. 11, November 2005, via SeedQuest.com
November,
2005
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1.14
Swiss vote for ban on GM cultivation
Switzerland has
agreed to support a five-year ban on the commercial cultivation of genetically
modified crops. In a referendum on a moratorium on biotechnology in Swiss
agriculture, 55.6% of Swiss voters supported the ban until November 27,
2010.
EuropaBio, the European Union (EU) association for bioindustries,
said that although the ban concerns only the commercial cultivation of GM crops,
the impact will indirectly affect investment in research and innovation, as well
as lessen crop alternatives for farmers.
For more information on the ban,
visit
http://www.europabio.org.
Source:
CropBiotech Update 2 December 2005
Contributed by Margaret
Dept. of Plant
Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.15
China leads in research of genetically modified
plants
Beijing, China
China has taken the lead among developing
countries in the research of genetically modified (GM) plants, an expert has
said.
China has been investing 100 million US dollars per year in the
research of biotechnological plants since the beginning of this century, and the
sum is expected to reach more than 500 million US dollars in 2005, said Shen
Guifang, executive deputy director of China High-tech Industrialization
Association and researcher of
Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences.
At present, more than 60 versions of GM
plants are approved for field trials and release, including China's staple crops
-- rice, maize and wheat, as well as cotton, potato, tomato, soybean, peanut and
rape, she said at the "Forum of Industrial Innovation and Agriculture
Industrialization" held recently in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
More than 30 versions of GM tomato,
cotton, petunia and pimient o have been approved for commercial production. The
leading GM plant in China is pest-resistant cotton covering 66 percent of
cotton-growing areas, Shen said.
China developed 47 GM plants in 1996,
including almost all the main food and for age plants. It has examined and
approved 26 GM plants in terms of safety between 1997 and 1999, including 16 of
pest-resistant type, nine of antiviral type and one of quality-improved type.
China ranks the fifth -- behind the United States, Argentina, Canada,
Brazil - in the amount of genetically modified crops, saida World Health
Organization report in June. Last year it had 3.70 million hectares planted, 5
percent of the total transgenic crop area of the world.
5 December 2005
Source:
People's Daily Online
via SeedQuest.com
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1.16
Fishing
for the origins of genome complexity: deciphering a paradox of
evolution
Biologists at Georgia Tech have provided scientific support
for a controversial hypothesis that has divided the fields of evolutionary
genomics and evolutionary developmental biology, popularly known as evo devo,
for two years. Appearing in the December 2005 issue of Trends in Genetics,
researchers find that the size and complexity of a species’ genome is not an
evolutionary adaptation per se, but can result as simply a consequence of a
reduction in a species’ effective population size.
“As a general rule,
more complex organisms, like humans, have larger genomes than less complex
ones,” said J. Todd Streelman, assistant professor in the School of Biology at
the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-author of the study. “You might think
this means that animals with the largest genomes are the most complex – and for
the most part that would be right. But it’s not always true. There are some
species of frogs and some amoeba that have much larger genomes than humans.”
To help explain this paradox, a pair of scientists from Indiana
University and the University of Oregon published a hotly-contested hypothesis
in 2003. It said that most of the mutations that arise in organisms are not
advantageous and that the smaller a species effective population size (the
number of individuals who contribute genes to the next generation), the larger
the genome will be.
“We agreed with some of the criticisms of the
hypothesis – that one had to remove the effects of confounding factors like body
size and developmental rate,” said Streelman. “We were able to remove the
effects of these confounding factors and test whether genome size is adaptive.”
Their test consisted of analyzing data from 1,043 species of fresh and
saltwater ray-finned fish. Previous data on genetic variability had established
that freshwater species have a smaller effective population size than their
marine counterparts. If the hypothesis was correct, the genome size of these
freshwater fish would be larger than that of the saltwater dwellers. It was.
Then they matched the data with estimates of heterozygosity, a measure
of the genetic variation of a population. Again they found that species with a
smaller effective population had larger genomes.
“We see a very strong
negative linear relationship between genome size and the effective population
size,” said Soojin Yi, assistant professor in the School of Biology and lead
author of the study. “This observation tells us that the mutations that increase
the genome tend to be slightly deleterious, because population genetic theories
predict such a relationship.”
“The interesting thing here is that
biological complexity may passively evolve,” said Yi. “We show that at the
origins, it’s not adaptive mutations, but slightly bad ones that make the genome
larger. But if you have a large genome, there is more genetic material to play
with to make something useful. At first, maybe these mutations aren’t so good
for your genome, but as they accumulate and conditions change through evolution,
they could become more complex and more beneficial.”
Source:
EurekAlert.org
15 December 2005
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1.17
KU Leuven: Center for Conservation of Vegetatively
Propagated Plants
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven) in
Flanders, Belgium has been established as the Global Centre of Excellence on
Plant Cryobiology. It will be involved in the long-term conservation of
vegetatively propagated plants. This was agreed upon by the International Plant
Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and K.U.Leuven on 18 October 2005 to
commemorate World Food Day. Conservation efforts will include tropical staples
such as banana, taro, and cassava.
"This is a significant step forward in
our efforts to conserve agricultural diversity," said Emile Frison, Director
General of IPGRI. "The point, however, is not simply conservation. Breeders and
farmers need the conserved material to adapt crops to meet challenges such as
new pests and diseases."
Read more on K.U.Leuven at
http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/english.
IPGRI's release on the global center of excellence is at
http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/system/page.asp?frame=institute/pawareness.htm
Source: CropBiotech Update 28 October 2005
Contributed by Margaret
Smith
Dept. of Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell
University
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1.18
Research maps maize gene diversity
Maize was
domesticated from the
teosinte grass
through a single domestication event which may be traced to southern Mexico.
This occurred between 6000 to 9000 years ago, and resulted in the original
landraces which were then spread throughout the Americas by Native Americans and
adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. But what gene, or genes
were responsible for the improvement and domestication of
maize?
Masanori
Yamasaki of the University of Missouri, and colleagues, find their answer as
they report that "A Large-Scale Screen for Artificial Selection in
Maize Identifies
Candidate Agronomic Loci for Domestication and Crop Improvement." Their work
appears in the latest issue of Plant Cell.
By sequencing 1095
maize genes from a
sample of 14 inbred lines, researchers chose 35 genes with zero sequence
diversity as potential targets of selection. These 35 genes were then sequenced
in a sample of diverse
maize landraces and
teosintes and
tested for selection. Using two statistical tests, researchers identified eight
candidate genes, with three domestication candidates (designated as AY108876,
AY105060, and AY106371) and three improvement candidates (AY107195, AY110109,
and AY108178). The eight genes, the researchers report, "have functions
consistent with agronomic selection for nutritional quality, maturity, and
productivity."
Subscribers to Plant Cell can read the complete article at
http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/content/full/17/11/2859.
Source:
CropBiotech Update 18 November 2005
Contributed by Margaret Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.19
Animal gene renders tobacco
resistant to parasitic weed
Basel, Switzerland
The parasitic plant
species Orobanche can cause enormous yield losses. Up to now, there are only few
control measures that are successful and affordable. An American-Israeli
research team has now been able to genetically engineer tobacco plants to
enhance their resistance against Orobanche.
Parasitic plants heavily
contribute to the weed problem for agriculture. Plants of the species Orobanche
attack the roots of many crops and abstract water, nutrients and photosynthesis
products from their host plant, and by so doing can cause enormous yield losses.
Since the parasite is closely associated with the host root, its control is very
difficult. Thus, crop species that are resistant to the parasite are in great
demand.
James Westwood from the Virginia Tech, Department of Plant
Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science in Blacksburg, USA, and his Israeli
colleagues recently set out to render tobacco plants resistant to Orobanche.
They published their work in the Journal Transgenic Research.
The
research team genetically engineered tobacco plants so that they expressed a
protein fragment, called sarcotoxin IA, from the flesh fly Sarcophaga peregrine.
Sarcotoxin has toxic effects to several plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi.
Already in 1999, Radi Aly from the Agricultural Research Organiszation
in Ramat Yishay, Israel, and his colleagues showed that transgenic tobacco
plants producing sarcotoxin IA were less parasitized by Orobanche. Yet,
resistance was not complete, perhaps due to the low production level of
sarcotoxin IA.
Westwood has now combined the so called HMG2-promoter (a
plant gene sequence that controls a natural plant defence response) with the
sarcotoxin IA gene and found, that the transgenic tobacco plants showed
parasitic resistance after O. aegyptiaca had penetrated the plant.
However, sarcotoxin IA confers only an intermediate level of resistance
to Orobanche. Though the transgenic plants accumulated a higher biomass than
untransformed plants when grown in soil infected with O. aegyptiaca, the added
gene did not enable plants to completely avoid damage by the parasite.
Since the number of tubercles of O. aegyptiaca did not differ between
transgenic and untransformed plants and parasite biomass was lower in
genetically engineered plants, the researchers conclude that sarcotoxin IA first
of all affects parasite growth after it has attached to the roots, and second,
it does not inhibit the attachment itself.
The researchers write in
their publication that the resistance level of the genetically engineered
tobacco plants fall short of the levels that would be required for reducing
Orobanche infestations in the field.
“We are in the very early stages of
research on this line of resistance, and I don’t foresee any of our current
generation of plants being planted in the field,” Dr. Westwood told
Checkbiotech.
When plants armed with this resistance mechanism would be
released, the development of possible resistant Orobanche populations might be a
concern. Dr. Westwood answered, “I hypothesize that the sarcotoxin IA mechanism
is acting as a general membrane disrupter, and resistance may be slow to develop
against such a non-specific mechanism.”
But since resistance is always
possible, the best strategy is to combine it with other resistance mechanisms,
or effective control measures to further delay the emergence of resistant
Orobanche populations.
The researchers are currently investigating the
precise mechanism of action of sarcotoxin IA against Orobanche. Dr. Westwood
said, “We think we can enhance the activity by modifying the protein, but again,
we are in the first steps of this research and it is too early to say what
resistance levels can be expected.”
If they are able to increase
Orobanche resistance in tobacco plants enough, Dr. Westwood’ team will test it
against other parasitic weeds to see if it is generally useful against them as
well.
“Genetically engineered plants are not very different from the
plants we encounter and consume every day,” explained Dr. Westwood about his
research with transgenic plants. He further explained that nearly all crops
would have been substantially modified over the years by conventional genetic
breeding, in many cases with little knowledge or concern about unintended
changes that may have been made along the way.
“When I think about the
crop losses suffered due to parasitic plants, and that we still have few good
tools to protect these crops, I think we must be open to new approaches.”
Hamamouch et al. A peptide from insets protects transgenic tobacco from
a parasitic weed. Transgenic Research (2005) 14, pp. 227-236.
Link to
the abstract:
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=parasitic&doc_id=11865&start=1&fullsearch=0
By Katharina Schoebi, Checkbiotech
Contact: James H.
Westwood,Virginia Tech,
westwood@vt.eduSource:
SeedQuest.com
15 December 2005
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1.20
USDA identifies rice lines that resist straighthead
disease
Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service of the
United States Department of Agriculture have identified rice breeding lines that
resist straighthead disease.
Research geneticist Wengui Yan and
colleagues analyzed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rice Core
Collection and were able to identify germplasm accessions that are very
resistant to straighthead, a plant disease that causes the entire rice head to
remain upright at maturity with sterile florets and reduced grain
yield.
For more information, view the ARS release at
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr.
Source:
CropBiotech Update 3 November 2005
Contributed by Margaret Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.21
Millet gets mildew defense from
within
Pearl
millet is the most drought tolerant of all domesticated cereals. It is
widely grown, and its worst pest is downy mildew disease, which is caused by the
fungus
Sclerospora graminicola (Sacc.) Schroet. Control methods are
ineffective, since the crop is grown under a wide range of environmental
settings.
With a little outside help, Bejai R. Sarosh, and colleagues, of
the University of Mysore, India document the "Elicitation of defense related
enzymes and resistance by L-methionine in
pearl
millet against downy mildew disease caused by
Sclerospora
graminicola." Their work appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Plant
Physiology and Biochemistry.
Researchers induced resistance to downy
mildew by treating the crop with L-methionine. They then profiled the messenger
RNA transcripts which accumulated, and found that a good number of defense
response genes were being expressed due to the treatment.
Subscribers to
the Journal of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry can access the complete article
at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2005.06.009.
Source:
CropBiotech Update 11 November 2005
Contributed by Margaret Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.22
Lr19 resistance in wheat becomes susceptible to
Puccinia triticina in India
Lr19, a resistance gene originally
transferred from _Agropyron elongatum_ to wheat (_Triticum aestivum_ L.), has
remained effective worldwide against leaf rust (_Puccinia triticina_ Eriks.)
except in Mexico (1). This report records a new pathotype of _P. triticina_
virulent on Lr19 from India.
From 2003 to 2004, 622 wheat leaf rust
samples from 14 states were subjected to pathotype analysis. Samples were
established on susceptible wheat cv. Agra Local, and pathotypes were identified
on 3 sets of differentials following binomial nomenclature (3). Virulence on
Lr19 (Agatha T4 line) was observed in approximately 2 percent of samples. These
samples were picked from Lr19 (NIL), cvs. Ajit, Lal Bahadur, Local Red, Lok1,
and Nirbhay from Karnataka and Gujarat states. All Lr19 virulent isolates were
identical. The reference culture is being maintained on susceptible wheat cv.
Agra Local and has also been put under long-term storage in a national
repository at Flowerdale.
From 2004 to 2005, this pathotype was detected
in 6.3 percent of samples from central and peninsular India. There is no wheat
variety with Lr19 under cultivation in India, however, it is being used in wheat
breeding programs targeted at building resistance against leaf and stem rusts.
NIL's Lr19/Sr25 (LC25) and Lr19/Sr25 (82.2711) were also susceptible to this
isolate, whereas Lr19/Sr25 (spring accession) was resistant. The new isolate,
designated as 253R31 (77-8), appears to be close to the pathotype 109R31 (4)
with additional virulence for Lr19. The avirulence/virulence formula of
pathotype 253R31 is Lr9, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27ძ, 28, 29, 32, 36, 39, 41, 42, 43,
45/Lr1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14a, 14b, 14ab, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21,
22a, 22b, 30, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 44, 48, and 49.
To our knowledge,
this is the 1st report of virulence on Lr19 from 2 states of India. On
international rust differentials, it is designated as TGTTQ (2), and is
different from CBJ/QQ (1), the other isolate reported virulent on Lr19 from
Mexico. The Mexican isolate is avirulent on Lr1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3ka, 16, 21, and 30
to which the Indian
isolate is virulent.
However, both isolates are
avirulent on Lr9, 24, 26, 36, and Lr42. Among the wheat cultivars identified
during the last 6 years, HD2824, HD2833, HD2864, HI1500, HS375, HUW 510, HW
2044, HW 5001, Lok 45, MACS 6145, MP4010, NW 2036, PBW 443, PBW 498, PBW 502,
PBW 524, Raj 4037, UP 2565, VL 804, VL 829, and VL 832 and lines of wheat
possessing Lr9, Lr23, Lr24, and Lr26 showed resistance to this pathotype. PBW
343, which occupies more than 5 million ha in India, is also resistant to this
pathotype along with PBW 373.
An integrated strategy using a combination
of diverse resistance genes, deployment of cultivars by using pathotype
distribution data, slow rusting, and adult plant resistance is in place to
curtail selection of new pathotypes and prevent rust
epiphytotics.
References:
(1) J. Huerta-Espino and R. P. Singh. Plant
Dis. 78:640,1994.
(2) D. V. Mc Vey et al. Plant Dis. 88:271, 2004.
(3) S.
Nagarajan et al. Curr. Sci. 52:413, 1983.
(4) S. K. Nayar et al. Curr. Sci.
44:742, 1975.
Source: American Phytopathological Society, Plant Disease
Notes, December 2005 [edited] <
http://www.apsnet.org/pd/searchnotes/2005/PD-89-1360A.asp>
via
SeedQuest.com
30 November 2005
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1.23
Selection of spelt varieties for organic production underway in New South
Wales
New South Wales, Australia
Spelt is currently an important
component of organic rotations in Australia’s winter rainfall zones. In
Australia, organic spelt is currently processed for flour and further
value-added into bread, licorice, spelt flakes, and pasta. In addition, spelt
has benefits for livestock, both for grazing and as a stock feed supplement.
Environmentally, spelt is well adapted to organic systems. In addition to having
lower nutritional requirements than wheat, anecdotal evidence suggests that
spelt was unaffected by stripe rust in 2004 when the disease was widespread
throughout Australia and appears more tolerant of waterlogging and salt (Ground
Cover, Issue 55, April/May, GRDC 2005).
The seeming adaptability of
spelt suggests that it may have a role to play in Australian agricultural
systems as climate change impacts on traditional cropping. However, the yield of
spelt (and other alternative grains) is variable (2 -4.5 tonnes / Ha) with
reported yields in Australia well below that of wheat, indicating that there is
potential to improve yields either through crop selection and/or by improvements
to crop nutrition. Yield benefits, however, must not compromise the superior
nutritional value or other unique attributes of these grains.
Organic
farmers in the Cootamundra area of NSW are currently growing a spelt variety
which is a mixture of two older strains. No other varieties are available
commercially and little is known about the adaptability of the Cootamundra
variety. NSW DPI in conjunction with Cootamundra organic producers David and
Mary Booth (Buronga Organics) set out to test the available germplasm to see
whether other varieties are an improvement.
A small number of seeds of
each of these lines have been growing for the past 5 months in the glasshouse at
the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation in Wagga Wagga. The harvested
seed will be grown in the field next year. This is the beginning of the process
to determine which of thevarieties has commercial potential.
As soon as
sufficient seed is available, the best varieties will be evaluated on organic
growers’ properties and on certified organic land at NSWDPI’s Yanco Agricultural
Institute and at theRiverina Institute of TAFE’s National Environment Centre in
Albury.
Quality and ‘organic’ performance are essential
attributes The 43 spelt genotypes grown in the glasshouse have exhibited
a huge and interesting range of different characteristics. Some lines were early
‘spring’ types, others were ‘winter’ types. There were striking differences in
plant height, degree of tillering, leaf size and number, plant colour, and
ear shape.
Organic growers require crop varieties that are deliberately
bred to perform well in their production systems. Currently, organic farmers
have to rely on varieties bred for high-input systems (fertiliser, herbicide,
insecticide, etc.) which will not necessarily have the attributes most suited to
the organic environment. Furthermore, organic growers really want varieties to
be ‘bred organically’. That is, bred using traditional methods and without the
use of more modern interventionist approaches such as, tissue culture,
artificial mutagensis, or transgenics. It remains to be seen whether some
breeding is required for Australian spelt but experience over the years in many
crops worldwide has shown that breeding may be required to make long-term
progress in yield. Perhaps the biggest challenge for organic spelt production is
weed control, and having a variety which is very competitive against weeds will
be essential.
An equally important aspect of spelt wheat is its grain
and flour quality - which is different to normal bread wheat. The Bread Research
Institute Australia Limited recently undertook are view of the health attributes
of spelt for the Grains Research and Development Corporation(GRDC). They found
that spelt has a similar composition to modern wheats - high in carbohydrates,
low in fat, with good protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Zinc levels
however, can be up to twice as high in spelt as in modern wheats. Spelt may be
higher in vitamin E activity and have a higher proportion of monounsaturated
fats to the total fat content. However, the content of total and insoluble
dietary fibre has been reported to be considerably lower in spelt than modern
wheats (Griffins, T. 2005). A vital part of any selection process is to ensure
that the quality of promising varieties retain these characteristics and meets
the quality requirements of the spelt processors and consumers. Quality will be
tested as soon as sufficient seed is generated from field trials.
A
complete production package As they say “the proof of the pudding is in
the eating” and it is hoped to undertake extensive on-farm evaluations of the
selected lines. Subject to the success of a pending funding application, future
trials will evaluate agronomic and quality attributes of the spelt selections
within organic crop rotations. This will include a time of planting and sowing
rate / row spacing trial and the determination (and provision)of critical soil P
and N levels for spelt under organic systems. The ultimate aim is to present
organic producers with a comprehensive production package which provides them
with a selection of high quality; higher yielding spelt lines and production
strategies which are well adapted to their local organic management conditions.
It is likely that future spelt wheat varieties will not be the pure,
uniform types we are currently used to. Organic growers will, in fact, require
locally-adapted populations which suit their individual conditions and which
continue to evolve under natural selection. The plant breeder’s job in this
scenario is to produce the genetically-mixed populations by hybridisation and
then let nature takes its course (along with a helping hand from the
participatory organic growers). The end result will be ‘landraces’ - much like
the crops of centuries past. So, it is back to the future!
For further
information contact: Robyn Neeson at
robyn.neeson@dpi.nsw.gov.au or Dr.
DavidLuckett at
david.luckett@dpi.nsw.gov.auSource:
Organic Newsletter Volume 2, issue 9, Sept-Nov 2005, via SeedQuest.com 6
December 2005
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1.24
ARS progresses on anti-aphid soy
The
soybean aphid is a
widespread pest of the crop, and, in high levels of infestation, can stunt
soybean growth,
disfigure leaves, and cause plants to die. Growers have hitherto fought the pest
with insecticides, which add as much as $25 per acre to production
costs.
Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service of the United
States Department of Agriculture (ARS-USDA) have made considerable progress in
finding a way to combat the pest. A team led by plant pathologist Glen Hartman
and University of Illinois (UI) collaborators at Urbana have found that a single
gene, called Rag1, can confer resistance to
soybean
aphid.
Researchers found the gene by screening 800 commercial cultivars
and 3,000 germplasm accessions. They have already published their findings in
the March 2005 issue of Crop Science, and since then have mapped the gene and
its location on the resistant cultivar's genome. They have also identified
marker regions, and devised technology to detect such markers, so that breeders
may immediately identify resistant plants.
With current progress, high
yielding cultivars expressing Rag1 may be available by 2008.
Read the
complete article at:
http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/45/2/639?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=Hartman&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1131594020854_4380&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&journalcode=cropsci
.
Access the press release at
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov05/soy1105.htmSource:
CropBiotech Update 18 November 2005:
Contributed by Margaret Smith
Dept.
of Plant Breeding & Genetics
Cornell University
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1.25
CSIRO researchers are investigating
how to use genes to produce larger seeds across a wide range of
crops
Australia
Following their discovery of two genes which
control the size of plant seeds,
CSIRO
researchers are investigating how that knowledge can be used to produce larger
seeds across a wide range of crops.
The two seed-size genes have been
isolated in the model plant
Arabidopsis and in initial tests, where the
genes have been ‘turned down’, seed size has been reduced by up to 30 per
cent.
The challenge now for the CSIRO team led by Dr Abed Chaudhury and
Dr Ming Luo is to ‘turn up’ the activity of the genes to try and increase seed
size.
'For farmers bigger seed means healthier crops, more productive
farms and potentially higher returns,' Dr Chaudhury says.
The CSIRO team
hopes to understand how the seed-size genes work and what they do to affect seed
size.
'The genes we identified in
Arabidopsis are likely to have
equivalent counterparts in other plants, so what we learn from these genes and
how they influence seed size may be applied to a whole suite of other
plants.
Food like bread, pasta, rice, cornflakes, peanut butter, canola
oil, margarine, soymilk and even coffee and chocolate are all made from
seeds.
There is huge variation in seed size in different plants, from
orchids, with seed the size of a speck of dust, right through to coconuts – the
world’s largest seeds.
Plant breeders have long recognised the importance
of larger seed in the production of food crops and have been breeding for the
trait.
'Manufacturers and industry often pay a premium for large seeds
like chickpeas or lentils, because they are easier to handle and are often
preferred by consumers,' Dr Chaudhury says.
'Farmers prefer larger seeds
because for certain crops, especially wheat and canola, large seeds mean more
food for the seedling, early germination and vigorous plants that are more
likely to produce higher yields.'
The CSIRO team hope to understand how
the seed-size genes work and what they do to affect seed size.
'We’re
also interested in a third gene that looks like it might be responsible for
controlling the two other genes,' he says.
“Understanding how these genes
operate in plants could help us find ways to develop plants that consistently
produce larger seeds.”
This work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Science, November 29 2005, vol. 102 no. 48, 17531-17536
Source:
SeedQuest.com
9 December 2005
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1.26
Anyway you slice it, tomatoes cut through drought with new
gene
College Station – New tomato research has its roots in yielding
more food to feed more people, according to Dr. Kendal Hirschi about results
announced today.
His team's study appears in today's Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.
The team made tomato plants over-express
the gene, AVP1, which resulted in stronger, larger root systems and that
resulted in roots making better use of limited water, said Hirschi, a researcher
at Texas A&M University's Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center and
Baylor's College of Medicine.
"The gene gave us a better root system,
and the root system could then take the adjustment to drought stress better and
thus grow better," Hirschi said of the paper which details "a strategy to
engineer drought-resistant crop plants."
For example, regular or control
tomatoes used in the experiment suffered irreversible damage after five days
without water, as opposed to the transgenic tomatoes, which began to show signs
of damage after 13 days but rebounded completely as soon as they were watered,
according to the study.
"This technology could ultimately be applied to
all crops because it involves the over-expression of a gene found in all
plants," said Dr. Roberto Gaxiola, a plant biologist at the University of
Connecticut and the lead author of the study. "It has the potential to
revolutionize agriculture and improve food production worldwide by addressing an
increasing global concern: water scarcity."
Gaxiola's findings regarding
the use of AVP1 in Arabidopsis to create hardier, more drought resistant plants
were published in the journal Science in October, but the study described in the
proceedings marks the first time the enhanced gene has been inserted in a
commercially viable crop, he said.
The paper notes that drought
conditions throughout the world each year carve out a huge amount of food
production.
To overcome food shortages, the authors suggest, "it will be
necessary to increase the productivity of land already under cultivation and to
regain the use of arable land lost to scarce water supplies."
Hirschi
and Gaxiola worked with Dr. Sunghun Park, also of the Vegetable and Fruit
Improvement Center.
"Our center is good at moving genes into the
different plants," Hirschi said. "Dr. Park's job was to move this gene into the
tomato."
Hirschi, who's main research focus is "boosting nutrients in
plants to make them more nutritional for children," said the study now may be
tried on other crops. Gaxiola said he already has additional studies under way
to demonstrate how this technology applies to other commercial crops.
More information on this study can be found at
http://www.pnas.org/Writers: Kathleen
Phillips, (979) 845-2872,
ka-phillips@tamu.edu Beth Krane,
(860) 486-4656,
beth.krane@uconn.edu
Contacts: Dr. Kendal Hirschi, (713) 798-7011,
kendalh@bcm.edu Dr. Roberto Gaxiola, (860)
486-5878,
Roberto.gaxiola@uconn.edu Source: EurekAlert.org
13 December
2005
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1.27
Gene reported to confer drought tolerance
Abscisic
acid is a plant hormone that regulates growth, and transcription factors
associated with a plant’s response to it play a key role in allowing plants to
survive under drought stress. One such transcription factor is AREB1, and
Yasunari Fujita and colleagues from Tsukuba, Japan find, from their research,
that “AREB1 Is a Transcription Activator of Novel ABRE-Dependent ABA Signaling
That Enhances Drought Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis.”
In their paper,
which appears in the latest issue of Plant Cell, researchers report that under
normal growth conditions, the intact AREB1 gene is insufficient to induce the
expression of genes. They thus created an activated form of the gene, called
AREB1 QT, and over expressed it in Arabidopsis in the laboratory. Researchers
found that the plants were hypersensitive to abscisic acid, and showed enhanced
tolerance to drought. Plants without the gene were insensitive to abscisic acid,
and displayed reduced survival under dehydration.
Subscribers to Plant
Cell may read the complete article at
http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/content/full/17/12/3470.
Other
readers may access the abstract at
http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/12/3470.
Source:
http://www.isaaa.org/kc/ via AgBioView
9 December 2005
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1.28
Expanding the pool of PCR-based markers for
oat
J.-L. Jannink and S. W. Gardner of
Iowa State University present their work on
“Expanding the Pool of PCR-Based Markers for Oat.” Their research appears in the
latest issue of
Crop
Science.
There are only a few polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–based
markers for oat, and the crop would benefit from such markers, as PCR is a less
expensive alternative to current methods used to analyze, classify, and breed
oat (such as restriction fragment length polymorphisms, or RFLP).
In their
research, Jannink and Gardner design 32 markers based on oat sequence data
available.
Subscribers to Crop Science can access the complete article,
as well as the sequences of the markers, at
http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/reprint/45/6/2383.
Other readers may see the abstract at
http://crop.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/45/6/2383.
Source:
CropBiotech Update
Source:
SeedQuest.com
16 December 2005
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1.29
Cancer, genes and broccoli - study of genetic differences in
cancer protection
United Kingdom
People who gain less protection
from cancer by eating broccoli may be able to compensate for the difference in
their genetic make-up by eating ‘super broccoli’, a variety with higher levels
of the active plant chemical sulforaphane, or by eating larger
portions.
Lead scientist on the new research, Professor Richard Mithen of
the
Institute of Food Research (IFR), said:
“Eating a few portions of broccoli each week may help to reduce the risk of
cancer. Some individuals, who lack a gene called GSTM1, appear to get less
cancer protection from broccoli than those who have the gene.
“Our
studies suggest that this may be because if you lack the gene you cannot retain
any sulforaphane inside your body, it is all excreted within a few hours.
However, if you consume larger portions of broccoli, or broccoli with higher
levels of sulforaphane, such as the ‘super broccoli’, you may be able to retain
as much sulforaphane in your body as those who have the gene. Eating larger
portions may have additional benefits since broccoli is also a rich source of
other vitamins and minerals”.
Broccoli is the main source of natural
compound sulforaphane. It belongs to the crucifer family of plants which
includes the brassica vegetables cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, and
the closely related Chinese cabbage and turnips. Other crucifers include
watercress and salad rocket. The most distinctive characteristic of crucifers is
that their tissues contain high levels of glucosinolates. When they are eaten,
glucosinolates are broken down to release isothiocyanates. There is a well
established body of evidence to show that isothiocyanates are among the most
potent dietary anticarcinogens known.
Sulforaphane is the main
isothiocyanate derived from broccoli. ‘Super broccoli’ contains 3.4 times more
sulforaphane than standard varieties. It has been developed by traditional plant
breeding methods.
Fifty per cent of the population lack the GSTM1 gene.
While these people may gain less cancer protection from consuming broccoli, it
is likely that they gain more cancer protection from eating other types of
crucifers, such as cabbages and Chinese cabbage. So the best advice is to eat a
mixture of crucifers.
This research was funded by IFR’s Core Strategic
Grant from the
Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council and by the University of Nottingham and
Seminis Inc. It is part of ongoing research at
IFR to identify the optimal levels of a range of food compounds for human
health.
Full reference for the paper:
Glutathione S-transferase M1
polymorphism and metabolism of sulforaphane from standard and high-glucosinolate
broccoli.
American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition; 82: 1283: 2005
Source: SeedQuest.com
7 December
2005
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1.30
Global push to decipher potato DNA
code
Christchurch, New Zealand
The nutritional value, colour and
flavour of New Zealand’s potatoes can all be improved thanks to
Crop & Food Research’s role in helping to
sequence the potato genome by 2009.
Improvements could also be made to
the environmental sustainability of crop production, says Jeanne Jacobs, who
will lead our potato genomics research.
Crop & Food Research has
taken up an invitation to join the international Potato Genome Sequencing
Consortium and Dr Jacobs is already assisting in protocol development to ensure
quality work by all parties.
The $36 million programme is led by
Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands. Scientists at
Wageningen and in China will each sequence two of the twelve potato chromosomes,
while their colleagues at Crop & Food Research and in Scotland, Poland,
Russia, Brazil, the US and India will each take one chromosome. The remaining
chromosome will be sequenced by a group of laboratories in Austria, Finland and
Ireland.
Knowledge of the full genome will provide huge opportunities to
improve the potato crop – an important global crop with an increasing
significance for developing countries.
“If you know exactly which part of
the chromosome holds the genes for a particular trait, then you can precisely
target crop improvements.
“The research will also yield genetic
information important to the improvement of other vegetable crops that share
some of their DNA sequences with potatoes,” says Dr Jacobs.
A complete
sequence of any genome enables the use of the precision breeding technique
developed by Crop & Food Research’s Tony Conner. Plants produced using this
technique are, by definition, not transgenic. Only DNA already available to
traditional plant breeders is used. The genes that cause a particular
characteristic can be identified in potato germplasm banks and the best one
selected to transfer precisely an improved quality into a new
plant.
Source:
Crop & Food
Research's quarterly newsletter, issue 51, 2005, via SeedQuest.com
7
December 2005
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1.31
Alabama A&M University scientists eliminate major peanut
allergen
Huntsville, Alabama
Food biotechnologists at
Alabama A&M University have successfully
eliminated a major peanut allergen that causes sometimes fatal reactions in many
people throughout the world.
There are at least six distinct peanut
allergens that pose problems in some people who eat peanuts or its derivatives,
say Dr. Hortense Dodo (photo) (pronounced with long vowels) and research
colleague Dr. Koffi Konan. Using a process referred to as RNA
Interference (RNAi), the scientists were able to transform peanut tissues and
silence the Ara h2 allergen gene, thus eliminating one of the proteins which
triggers allergic reactions.
Dodo called peanut allergies the most
deadly of the food allergies. The Ara h2 allergen and other peanut
allergens, for instance, are responsible for causing such symptoms as hives,
swelling, respiratory problems, gastrointestinal difficulties and anaphylactic
shock.
Peanuts represent a more than $4 billion industry, says Dodo, and
they are a cheap source of high quality proteins,
good fats, vitamins and
minerals. Moreover, the crop can be grown “almost anywhere,” she adds.
Why the increase in peanut allergies?
“The number of people
experiencing allergic reactions to peanuts is increasing every year,” commented
Dr. Dodo from one of her labs on the AAMU campus. She noted that
“more and more accidental deaths” occur as people unknowingly ingest foods that
include peanut flour or oil. The tragic death last week of a 15-year-old
Canadian girl is one such example.
Dodo says scientists are not really
sure what is happening that is causing the rise in the number of new cases of
peanut allergies each year. Most of the cases involve young
children, notes Dodo. Some researchers suggest that statistics were not as
prevalent in decades past. Others point to a more sanitized lifestyle that
has caused American immune systems to lose their bite. But one thing seems
certain, notes Dodo--peanut allergies are not as common in developing
countries.
Permanent eradication of peanut
allergy
Admittedly, the road toward the development of allergen-free
peanuts was a long and winding one. Dodo and Konan say it took some time
to refine a process that yielded a transgenic hypoallergenic peanut plant that
produced seeds. The AAMU researchers applied the RNAi process, which could
permanently eliminate allergens’ accumulation in peanut, and they finally saw a
light at the end of the research tunnel in February 2005.
Since that
time, Dodo and Konan have been growing subsequent generations of the transgenic
plant and testing for the presence of the most potent peanut allergens, which
theoretically should not re-occur. In the world of peanut research, a
generation could mean six months or longer.
Of course, other scientists
are approaching the peanut allergy problems in a variety of ways, including the
development of methods to treat the allergic patient. Dodo and Konan,
however, prefer to find solutions by looking directly at “the culprit”the
peanut itself.
“Our goal in developing a hypo-allergenic and
allergen–free peanut is not to push people who are allergic to peanuts to eat
them,” explains Dodo, “but to foster industry-wide use of the new peanut variety
in processed foods that contain peanuts. So, if a person allergic to
peanuts accidentally eats such foods, doing so should not trigger a severe
reaction or death.”
Studies are currently underway at AAMU, says Dodo, to
determine if the new transgenic peanuts maintain their nutritional
quality. Dr. Dodo is looking for commercial partners
Source:
SeedQuest.com
2 December 2005
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1.32
Iowa State University plant scientist leads national effort to use
metabolomics to unlock gene functions
Ames,
Iowa
An
Iowa State University
plant scientist is leading a national research team that will develop a new tool
to decipher the functions of plant genes. By advancing the understanding of
biological processes, their work could define new ways to improve oils, starches
and proteins from corn and soybeans.
The National Science Foundation
recently awarded $1 million to fund the project, which is led by Basil Nikolau,
professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology and director of the
Center for Designer Crops and the W.M. Keck Metabolomics Research Laboratory.
Nikolau and researchers from seven institutions will test the
feasibility of using metabolomics to uncover the biological function of genes in
Arabidopsis, a plant used as a model organism in research.
The
Arabidopsis genome was the first plant genome completely sequenced, an
accomplishment that has proven invaluable to understanding plant biology
including the biology of corn and soybeans. However, the functions of about
one-third of the 25,000 genes in the Arabidopsis genome are still unknown.
"When we understand in detail how genes function to regulate biological
processes in plants, we can develop foods and animal feeds that have better
nutritional quality and crop-based sources for energy or industrial chemicals,"
Nikolau said.
The grant funds a two-year pilot project focused on
deciphering the functions of 100 genes. The long-term goal is to establish an
international consortium of research laboratories to further develop
metabolomics as a tool in functional genomics.
Metabolomics uses
sophisticated instruments to accurately measure, en masse, the biochemcials
(metabolites) that make up an organism. Metabolites are the building blocks of
all biological products, including those important to agriculture, like oils,
sugars and proteins. Metabolism the complex network of biochemical
reactions that converts metabolites to final products is determined by the
organism's genetic blueprint or genome.
The research will be conducted
at the interface between chemistry, biochemistry, genetics and bioinformatics.
Researchers will generate metabolomics and genomics data, conduct statistical
analyses, develop standards for identifying metabolites and complete
biocomputational modeling and representation of the data. This work will
enable the research community to integrate metabolomics data with and decipher
the function of genes in the biological network.
Other Iowa State
researchers involved on the project are Julie Dickerson, associate professor of
electrical and computer engineering; Philip Dixon, professor of statistics;
George Kraus, University Professor of chemistry; Nicola Pohl, assistant
professor of chemistry; and Eve Wurtele, professor of genetics, development and
cell biology.
In addition, researchers from the following institutions
are part of the consortium: University of California, Davis; Carnegie
Institution, Stanford, Calif.; The Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation, Ardmore,
Okla.; Kansas State University, Manhattan; Washington State University, Pullman;
and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.
The
project grew out of discussions last year among the scientists at the Third
International Congress on Plant Metabolomics organized by Nikolau and colleagues
and hosted by the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State.
"The grant
builds upon Iowa State's leadership and success in metabolomics," Nikolau
said.
Last year, the university opened its $1.8 million W.M. Keck
Metabolomics Research Laboratory. The laboratory is home to highly sophisticated
separation and detection equipment that analyze a wide variety of metabolites
and make it possible for researchers to conduct high-throughput microanalysis of
metabolites in plant tissues. Research conducted in the laboratory is uncovering
knowledge about genes important to the production of biorenewable feedstocks
from crops, starch biosynthesis in corn and new phytochemicals in Echinacea that
may boost the human immune system.
"Metabolomics could potentially
reveal how the genome of an organism controls and regulates the metabolism
that maintains biological form and function," Nikolau said. "The applications of
this fundamental research extend far and wide. From this type of basic knowledge
comes technological innovations that can drive economic
development
Source: SeedQuest.com
21 November 2005
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1.33
Double fertilisation in flowering
plants in the context of plant breeding
Researchers in Cologne
discover signals between plant embryos and their endosperm
A large
portion of plant seeds is endosperm. It has the important task of nourishing the
plant embryo during the early stages of its development. In flowering plants,
there is a complicated double-fertilisation mechanism that arises among embryos
and endosperm. They develop together into mature seeds. The exact process, and
the communication between the two parts of the seeds, has been unclear to
scientists. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research
and the University of Cologne have, however, isolated a mutant where there is
only one single fertilisation. In a recent online edition of the journal Nature
Genetics (November 28, 2005) they explain that this single fertilisation, which
creates an embryo, also triggers the development of endosperm, even when the
central cell where endosperm develops is not fertilised.
The ovules of
flowering plants are housed in a carpel. Pollen lands on the flower's stigma and
forms a pollen tube. It then uses each one of its two sperm cells to fertilise
the egg cell, from which the embryo hatches, and the central cell, where the
endosperm grows. This double fertilisation is what is special to all flowering
plants.
Scientists in Cologne, working with Arp Schnittger, have found a
mutant of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana called cdc2. It has an altered pollen.
Because of a failed cell division, the cdc2-plants develop pollen that has only
one sperm cell instead of two. The researchers have now been exploring the
question if whether, under these conditions, fertilisation is possible at all.
It turned out that the mutated pollen can survive and even grow into a female
partner. Once it has arrived there, the single sperm cell of the cdc2 pollen
merges only with the egg cell and not with the central cell. This shows a
hierarchy, never before discovered, in the fertilisation process of
Arabidopsis.
The scientists made another astounding observation: although
the central cell remained unfertilised, it began to develop endosperm. The
researchers deduced that shortly after the egg cell was fertilised, a positive
signal was sent out to its environment, which appears to be necessary for normal
growth of an endosperm. Because the double fertilisation process can be
genetically dissected, the existence of this mutant offers new possibilities to
learn about the development of endosperm and the embryo in seeds. In the next
few months, the researchers hope above all to find out how exactly the signal
functions and what chemical reactions are behind it.
"Explaining the
mechanism behind double fertilisation in flowering plants and early seed
development is particularly interesting in the context of plant breeding," says
Arp Schnittger, "because reproduction without fertilisation would be
advantageous for many different kinds of breeding."
Source:
EurekAlert.org
8 December 2005
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1.34
Study finds that nutritionally enhanced rice reduces iron
deficiency
Los Banos, Philippines – Breeding rice with higher
levels of iron can have an important impact on reducing micronutrient
malnutrition, according to a new study in the
Journal of Nutrition. The
research, conducted by scientists from the Philippines and the United States, is
a major step forward in the battle against iron deficiency, one of the
developing world’s most debilitating and intractable public health problems
affecting nearly 2 billion people.
The lead authors of the article, Dr.
Jere Haas from the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, Dr.
John Beard and Dr. Laura E. Murray-Kolb from the Department of Nutritional
Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, Prof. Angelita del Mundo and
Prof. Angelina Felix from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and Dr.
Glenn Gregorio from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), oversaw a
study in which religious sisters in ten convents in the Philippines included the
nutritionally enhanced rice in their diets. After 9 months, the women had
significantly higher levels of total body iron in their blood.
“This study documents a major breakthrough in the battle to prevent
micronutrient malnutrition,” said Dr. Robert Zeigler, director general of IRRI.
“These results are especially important for rice-eating regions of the world
where more than 3 billion of the world’s poor and undernourished live.”
The iron-dense variety of rice used in the research (known technically
as IR68144-3B-2-2-3) was developed and grown at IRRI and then tested by an
international team of researchers from Cornell University, Pennsylvania State
University, the University of the Philippines Los Baños and IRRI. The research
initiative was originally spearheaded and funded by the Washington-based
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), with support from the
Asian Development Bank and the Micronutrient Initiative. HarvestPlus, an
international, interdisciplinary research program focused on breeding crops for
better nutrition and led by IFPRI and the International Center for Tropical
Agriculture (CIAT), will continue to work with these research findings and
partners to increase the level of nutrient density in rice to be even more
effective.
“We view this study as a ‘proof of concept,’” said
Zeigler. “We now know that, if plants are bred with higher levels of iron and
other micronutrients, they will improve the nutritional status of people who
consume them. This has dramatic implications.”
Through a process
known as “biofortification,” plant breeders are developing staple foods with
higher levels of essential micronutrients. This study demonstrates that
iron-biofortified rice can raise levels of stored iron in the body and can
significantly contribute to reducing micronutrient malnutrition.
“In the past, we relied on supplements and fortification to overcome
vitamin and mineral deficiencies,” said Howarth Bouis, director of HarvestPlus.
“Now we know that biofortification also works, giving us an additional tool in
this crucial battle.”
The United Nations and other donors spend millions
of dollars a year on iron supplements and other strategies to ease the enormous
damage wreaked by iron deficiency and related conditions. Iron deficiency can
affect a child's physical and mental development, and each year causes more than
60,000 maternal deaths during pregnancy and childbirth. Recent statistics
from the Micronutrients Initiative of Canada and the United Nations Children’s
Fund indicate that more than half of the developing world’s children between 6
months and 2 years of age are iron-deficient during the critical period of their
growth when brain development occurs. Many of the worst affected are found
among Asia's poorest, but iron deficiency is also widespread in Africa,
affecting more than 80 percent of young children in some countries.
Nutritional experts correctly advise that the best solution is a
balanced diet of fruit, vegetables and meat, but, for the very poor, such
choices are simply not possible and so they depend predominantly on staple foods
to stave off day-to-day hunger. This is especially true in isolated rural
areas where under-resourced and overstretched public health systems struggle to
improve the overall nutrition of the world's poor through nutritional
supplements. In these areas, commercially fortified foods also have difficulty
making it into the mouths of the hungry and so malnutrition
persists.
“The fact that biofortified foods can have an impact on
nutritional status in humans is an enormously exciting breakthrough,” Zeigler
noted. “It is time to shift the agricultural research agenda, and the rice
research agenda in particular, away from quantity and toward better-quality
food. This may be the start of a nutritional revolutiona very
appropriate follow-on from the Green Revolution and one that is desperately
needed by millions of the world’s poor and undernourished.”
Contributed
by Elcio Guimaraes
FAO/AGPC
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1.35
Update 12-2005 of FAO-BiotechNews (excerpts)
http://www.fao.org/biotech/news_list.asp?Cat=131 1) Biotechnology PAIA
stakeholder survey - Please participate As part of an overall strategy of
enhancing interdisciplinarity within FAO, a number of Priority Areas for
Interdisciplinary Action (PAIAs) were identified a few years ago. One of these
is biotechnology and a major role of the Biotechnology PAIA is to provide FAO
Members and their institutions with factual, comprehensive and current
information on international developments relating to biotechnology
applications. This is done through, for example, the FAO Biotechnology website,
the newsletter FAO-BiotechNews, and a series of e-mail conferences hosted by the
FAO Biotechnology Forum. An evaluation of the Biotechnology PAIA is currently
taking place and we would appreciate your inputs by filling out a web-based
survey with 13 short questions. Deadline for inputs is 15 January 2006. Click on
the survey (in English) at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=826421583778
or contact biotech-website@fao.org for more information.
2) Keynote
address by FAO Director-General On the occasion of a conference held on 6 June
2005 in Copenhagen, Denmark to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Danish Guild
of Agricultural Journalists (Dansk Landbrugspresse), the FAO Director-General
Jacques Diouf delivered a keynote address which considered, among other issues,
the on-going public debate on the potential and limits of biotechnology. See
http://www.fao.org/english/dg/2005/den.htm
or contact biotech-website@fao.org for more information.
6) REDBIO
national case studies - Colombia REDBIO has been carrying out a series of case
studies on the management of appropriate agricultural biotechnology for small
producers in individual countries. The 53-page study for Colombia (by I. Schuler
and L.A. Orozco), entitled "Manejo y gestión de la biotecnología agrícola
apropiada para pequeños productores: Estudio de caso Colombia", has now been
published. Studies have previously been published for Argentina, Bolivia,
Ecuador and Peru. REDBIO is the Technical Co-operation Network on Plant
Biotechnology in Latin America and the Caribbean, based at the FAO Regional
Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile. See
http://www.redbio.org/estud_casos.htm
or contact juan.izquierdo@fao.org for more information.
7) Food barley
improvement On 14-17 January 2002, FAO, the International Center for
Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the Institution de Recherche
et Enseignement Supérieur Ag