PLANT BREEDING NEWS
EDITION 159
15 August
2005
An Electronic Newsletter of Applied Plant Breeding
Sponsored by
FAO and Cornell University
Clair H. Hershey, Editor
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 ' US$15 billion needed' for African crop research
1.02 African Molecular Marker Applications
Network (AMMANET) discusses use of Marker Assisted Selection to
improve crops
1.03 Study shows worldwide adoption of CIMMYT varieties
1.04 National barley breeding program to help Australian industry meet expected
demand increases by 2020
1.05 Virus resistance key to expansion of pulse industry
in northern New South Wales
1.06 India urged to
revamp top crop research body
1.07 U.S. Department of
Agriculture proposes fee increase for plant variety protection
certificates
1.08 GM crops lead to herbicide-resistant weed in
UK
1.09 'No evidence' GM genes are still in local Mexican maize
1.10 The
genetic origins of corn on the cob
1.11 Beating world
hunger: the return of 'neglected' crops
1.12 Paper examines naked
maize grain origins
1.13 GM plant produces non-GM watermelon
1.14 Some corn hybrids show promise for high-temperature drying
1.15 Genetic discovery could lead to drought-resistant plants
1.16 Down the road with
new Roundup Ready alfalfa
1.17 Enriched lysine plants to fight malnutrition
1.18 A whole genome approach to marker discovery in lettuce
1.19 New high sugar grass
released
1.20 Potential control of cassava mosaic disease with antisense RNAs
1.21 Traditional breeding yields new rice
1.22 IR-maize to be
launched in Kenya
1.23 Work begins on better, bigger wheat
1.24 ARS
To help improve cassava
1.25 Vitamin aids plant immune system as well
1.26 Research compares GM, conventional potato varieties
1.27 Study looks at
divergence of seed size
1.28 Suppressed gene delays tomato ripening
1.29 Undergraduate plant research at University of California Riverside
1.30 A
new molecule discovered in the battle between plants and disease
1.31 Trapping genes that control flower development
1.32 International research team announces
finished rice genome
1.33 E-mail conference on
biotechnology and genetic resources
1.34 Selected articles from
Checkbiotech
2. PUBLICATIONS
2.01 Cartagena Protocol
reports now available in all six official UN languages
2.02 FAO book on fodder
oats
2.03 Proceedings of FAO Rice Conference
2.04 Abiotic Stresses:
Plant Resistance Through Breeding and Molecular Approaches
2.05 Hybrid Vegetable Development
2.06 Flower Seeds:
Biology and Technology
2.07 Plant Diversity and
Evolution:Genotypic and Phenotypic Variation in Higher Plants
2.08 OECD - Consensus document on new varieties of alfalfa and other
temperate forage legumes
2.09 Rice blast proceedings
2.10 Projections about ag
employment opportunities
3. WEB RESOURCES
(None
reported)
4 GRANTS AVAILABLE
(None
reported)
5 POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS
(None
reported)
6 MEETINGS, COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
7 EDITOR'S
NOTES
=========================
1. NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND
RESEARCH NOTES
1.01 'US$15
billion needed' for African crop research
Talent Ngandwe
[LUSAKA]
Some US$15 billion will need to be spent on agricultural research in sub-Saharan
Africa over the next 20 years if efforts to tackle hunger and malnutrition are
to succeed, says the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI).
In a report released yesterday (12 August), the US-based
institute recommended policies to increase food security on the
continent.
To project how the number of malnourished children could
change by 2025, IFPRI compared different policy scenarios.
Under the
'pessimistic' scenario, in which investment declines and HIV/AIDS continues to
grip sub-Saharan Africa, the number of children affected was predicted to
increase to 55.1 million from the 1997 figure of 32.7 million.
A
'business as usual' scenario, in which current policies persist, would also see
child malnutrition increasing, to 39.3 million.
But under the 'vision'
scenario, the figure would drop to 9.4 milllion, which would more than meet the
UN Millennium Development Goal of halving, by 2015, the proportion of children
who are malnourished.
Achieving this 'vision' would, however, require "dramatic increases" in funding for agricultural research and other sectors such
as irrigation, road building and the provision of clean water.
IFPRI's
report says sub-Saharan Africa would need US$15 billion of investment in crop
research by 2025 to increase yields. It recommends investment in both
conventional breeding and biotechnology.
Although the report says that
genetically modified crops have the potential to alleviate hunger in Africa, it
acknowledges that some countries are reluctant to adopt the technology. Other
biotechnologies, such as tissue culture and using molecular techniques to
accelerate conventional crop breeding, should still be pursued, it
says.
"Drastic changes must also take place in the way research and
extension are carried out in Africa," it adds, highlighting the need for
agricultural extension officers to increase farmers' knowledge about sustainable
pest management and fertiliser use, especially in semi-arid areas.
The
report also calls for stronger links between universities and government
research institutions, as well as the establishment of better networks for the
exchange of technical information within Africa and outside the
region.
Mark Rosegrant, the report's lead author, told SciDev.Net that
public-private partnerships will be essential if biotechnology is to take off in
African agricultural research.
"Rather than leaving it to the private
sector alone, public companies in Africa should get involved in biotechnology
research and genetic modification," he said.
The report points out that
as African governments' spending on crop research has declined, private-sector
involvement in crop research has not greatly increased.
It says that in
1995, private sector investments in developed countries amounted to 55 per cent
of the total in agricultural research and development whereas in the same
year, private sector investments in developing countries were just 5.5 per cent
of total spending.
In addition to boosting investment in crop research,
the report calls for more funding to improve education, supplies of drinking
water, irrigation and rural roads.
"Our findings reveal that an
additional US$4.7 billion per year in investments above 'business as usual'
investment levels, along with appropriate policy changes, would enable Africa to
confront child malnutrition as effectively as the rest of the developing world," says Rosegrant.
The report says that donor assistance to African
agricultural research has declined as a result of priorities shifting towards
environmental protection, health and education.
Link to full IFPRI
report
Source: SciDev.net
12 August 2005
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Contents)
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1.02
African Molecular Marker Applications Network (AMMANET)
discusses use of Marker Assisted Selection to improve crops
The African Molecular Marker Applications
Network (AMMANET) members recently met in Nairobi to strategize on how to
use DNA Molecular Marker technology to improve crops in Africa.
Issues of
crop pests, diseases and yields were discussed, with the participants agreeing
that MAS [Marker Assisted Selection] could be applied efficiently and
cost-effectively to solve some of the problems. They identified bananas, beans,
cassava, cowpeas, maize, millet, rice and sorghum as some of the priority crops
to concentrate their activities on. Smaller groups were formed to work on each
crop.
Dr Richard Edema, the
newly elected coordinator of the group and a Molecular Plant Virologist in the
Department of Crop Science, Makerere University, Uganda, told Crop Biotech Update that AMMANET’s main goal
is to share resources, synergies, and exchange information on crop improvement
initiatives on the continent. “This is the only way to eliminate duplication of
efforts that has led to huge waste of resources on the continent,” he
emphasized.
AMMANET, which is currently funded by the Rockefeller
Foundation, has over 100 members from seventeen countries in Africa, including
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Egypt, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa,
Sudan, Mozambique, and Rwanda among others. Dr. Jedidah W. Danson a member of AMMANET
secretariat and a Molecular Biologist with CIMMYT’s African Livelihoods Program,
said the organization with will work closely with National Agricultural Research
Systems (NARS), Regional organizations like Biosciences Eastern and Central
Africa (BECA), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Africa
(ASARECA), African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Forum for
Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the CGIAR centers, and other relevant
international bodies to fulfill their objectives.
For more information
contact Daniel Otunge of KBIC visit
AMMANET website: www.africancrops.net
Source:
SeedQuest.com
29 July 2005
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Contents)
++++++++++++++++++++++++
1.03 Study shows worldwide adoption of CIMMYT varieties
"Impacts of international wheat breeding
research in the developing world, 1988-2002" reported that the extensive use of
germplasm by public and private breeding programs from the Mexico-based
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), combined
with the widespread adoption of CIMMYT-derived varieties has generated enormous
benefits. Estimates showed that benefits associated with the use of
CIMMYT-derived germplasm range from US$ 0.5 to 1.5 billion.
The report,
authored by M.A. Lantican, H.J. Dubin, and M.L. Morris, updates the findings of
two earlier studies and extends the coverage to include many countries in
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It noted that while CIMMYT invests
only about US$ 9-11 million (in 2002) each year in wheat improvement research, "the returns to investment in international wheat breeding research in general
and in CIMMYT's wheat breeding program in particular are clearly
huge."
View the full report at http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/publs/catalogdb/index.cfm.
From
CropBiotech Update 29 July 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
(Return to Contents)
++++++++++++++++++++++
1.04 National barley breeding program to help Australian industry
meet expected demand increases by 2020
The Grains Research & Development
Corporation (GRDC) is collaborating with key research organisations through
a national barley breeding program to help industry meet expected demand
increases by 2020.
According to GRDC Managing Director, Peter Reading,
Barley Breeding Australia (BBA) will help Australia’s 6.6 million tonne barley
industry more than double production, increase average yields and expand the
growing area from 3.3 million hectares to 5 - 5.3 Mha by 2020.
“BBA will
co-ordinate the development and release of new varieties, ensuring there are
appropriate protocols and will endorse new varieties in consultation with Barley
Australia.
“BBA will take strategic direction from Australia’s
multi-billion dollar barley industry, which had a farm-gate value of $1.5
billion in 2004/05,” Mr Reading said.
Source: SeedQuest.com
28 July
2005
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1.05 Virus resistance key to expansion of pulse industry in northern
New South Wales
Australia
July 29, 2005
Varieties with
virus resistance will be the key to the expansion of the pulse industry in
northern New South Wales.
New South
Wales Department of Primary Industries Tamworth researcher Joop van Leur
says all pulse crops in the north are vulnerable to virus infection and this is
standing in the way of industry growth.
"Australia's northern grains
region is characterised by frequent summer rains that make summer crops possible
but also provide the virus inoculum with ample opportunity to survive and allow
virus vectors - like aphids - to build up before the start of the winter
cropping season," Mr van Leur said.
"The presence of inoculum and
vectors, as well as relatively mild winter temperatures, mean pulse crops in the
northern region are more likely to be exposed to virus epidemics than crops in
other parts of Australia."
Source: SeedQuest.com
29 July
2005
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++++++++++++++++++++++++
1.06 India urged to revamp top crop research body
T. V.
Padma
[NEW DELHI] For the second time this year, a committee appointed by the
Indian government has urged it to restructure the country's main crop research
body.
The committee made its recommendations regarding the Indian Council
of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in a report submitted to the agriculture
ministry in July.
It said many ICAR scientists believed that "for all
practical purposes the organisation had become bureaucratic and centralised".
ICAR coordinates agricultural research, education and training across
India. It acts as a central repository of information, communicates with
equivalent agencies in other countries, and helps to bring the applications of
research findings to farmers.
The scientists said the ICAR headquarters
in Delhi micromanaged its various institutes and "did not seem to inspire the
confidence" of institute directors and staff.
The committee was chaired
by Raghunath Mashelkar, director-general of the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR).
In January, another committee, led by M. S.
Swaminathan, chair of the National Farmers Commission and head of ICAR from 1972
to 1979, submitted its own report to India's Planning Commission.
It also
said bureaucracy was a problem, adding that "the political and administrative
tinkering with the staff selection process leads to [the recruitment of]
subordinate scientists, rather than scintillating ones".
While
Swaminathan's committee was tasked with recommending ways of improving India's
entire agricultural research sector, of which ICAR is just a part, Mashelkar's
focused specifically on ICAR.
Among the problems reported are delays in
distributing grants and research permits, as well as the multiple levels of
permission needed for project activities, or even simple foreign travel to
attend conferences.
It recommended that scientists not bureaucrats
should have a greater say in how ICAR is run, and that the council should
be more project-minded, with clearly defined goals, timelines, and ways of
monitoring progress.
The "multiple command and control centres should be
done away with," the committee recommended, saying directors of the institutes
should report directly to the ICAR director general, instead of to several
deputies and assistants, which leads to enormous red tape.
It also
suggested that, like CSIR and the space and atomic energy agencies, ICAR be
headed by India's prime minister instead of the agriculture minister.
The committee believes that putting the prime minister at the head of
the council would help integrate India's economic and agricultural
policies.
Senior ICAR officials privately admit some restructuring is
necessary. But they reject the call for ICAR to remodel itself to be more like
the CSIR.
This would mean fostering more public-private partnerships and
getting rid of several senior posts in the council to trim its size.
ICAR "desperately needs" a revamp, agrees Suman Sahai, head of Gene
Campaign, a non-governmental organisation that works with Indian
farmers.
Sahai says the council's leadership has recently "shown itself
to be incapable of rising to the challenges of the agrarian crisis in India or
the future anticipated challenges of climate change".
But, points out
Sahai, ICAR cannot follow the model of CSIR as the two have completely different
mandates.
ICAR's role is to coordinate agricultural research and promote
rural development, while CSIR promotes scientific and industrial research and
development, often involving private-sector participation.
"Service to
the farmers, and not commercial profits, is the key goal of ICAR and there is
sometimes a conflict between industry and small and marginal farmers," points
out Sahai. "Bureaucrats and controversial private sector companies should be
kept out."
In January, the Swaminathan committee warned that a "serious
crisis is developing in agricultural research … The scientific strength is
dwindling, with the result that a critical mass of scientific effort is lacking
in many projects."
It recommended setting up a 'National Board for
Strategic Research in Agriculture', that would act as an umbrella organisation
and coordinate the several government agencies that fund research in overlapping
areas of plant and animal sciences.
This overlap has led to the
duplication of efforts, in biotechnology for instance, alongside serious gaps in
research in fields such as post-harvest technology.
Source:
SciDev.net
2 August 2005
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Contents)
+++++++++++++++++++++++
1.07
U.S. Department of Agriculture proposes fee increase for
plant variety protection certificates
Washington, DC
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural
Marketing Service (AMS) today announced that it is proposing a fee increase
for its Plant
Variety Protection Office.
The proposed rule will increase the
general fees for application, search, and certificate issuance by approximately
20 percent. In addition, other fees and services listed in the general fee
schedule will also be increased. Supplemental fees, which were established in
May 2005, will not be affected by this proposal. The current general fees, last
increased in February 2003, are no longer adequate to cover current program
obligations. The PVP Act of 1970, as amended, requires that reasonable fees be
collected in order to maintain the program.
The proposed action will
amend regulations related to voucher seed samples. The proposal will permit seed
samples to be submitted directly to the public repository, allowing for
electronic submission of applications. A list of the proposed fee increases and
direct seed deposit procedures may be found at http://www.ams.usda.gov/science/pvpo/pvpindex.htm.
The
proposed rule will be published in the July 15 Federal Register ( USDA/AMS
proposes to increase Plant Variety Protection Office application, search, and
certificate issuance fees by 20 percent).
For further information,
contact Paul Zankowski, Commissioner, Plant Variety Protection Office, Rm. #
401, National Agricultural Library Building, 10301 Baltimore Blvd., Beltsville
MD 20705, or via e-mail at: Paul.Zankowski@usda.gov.
Source:
SeedQuest.com
15 July 2005
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Contents)
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1.08
GM crops lead to herbicide-resistant weed in
UK
British agricultural scientists have found that a
genetically modified (GM) variant of rapeseed has cross-fertilized with local
wild charlock plants, creating a herbicide-resistant weed in the process. The
transformation of a plain charlock into a herbicide-resistant weed is something
scientists had thought to be virtually impossible. The resulting charlock
plants, which showed no ill-effects after treatment with a normally lethal
herbicide, were discovered among many other unaffected plants in a field that
had been used to grow GM rapeseed as part of the British governments three-year
trials of GM crops.
While British officials were quick to downplay to
discovery as insignificant in the larger view of millions of unaffected plants,
other experts aren't so sure. Ecological geneticist Brian Johnson, a member of
the UK's scientific group assessing the farm trials, told reporters, "You only
need one event in several million. As soon as it has taken place the new plant
has a huge selective advantage. That plant will multiply rapidly."
What
especially worries environmentalists is that because millions of charlock seeds
can remain in the soil for 20-30 years before germination, it would be nearly
impossible to remove any of the genetically modified strains. Potential problems
such as these are what led many other European Union representatives, especially
the French and Greek delegations, to seek an outright ban on GM rapeseed.
Sources: www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,1535428,00.html
and www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/25/ugm.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/07/25/ixportaltop.html
August 2, 2005
Contributed by Elcio Guimaraes
FAO/AGPC
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1.09 'No evidence' GM genes are still in local Mexican
maize
Luisa Massarani
Research published today (9 August) says
that there is no evidence to support controversial claims made in 2001 that
genetically modified (GM) maize had 'contaminated' local varieties of the crop
in Mexico.
In 2001, Nature published research showing that genes
from GM maize had entered wild maize in the Mexican state of Oaxaca despite the
country not allowing GM maize to be grown at the time (see GM
maize found 'contaminating' wild strains).
Although the journallater disowned the paper, its authors, David Quist and Ignacio Chapela of
the University of California at Berkeley, stood by their claim that one per cent
of wild maize cobs contained genes from GM crops (see Nature backtracks over GM maize controversy).
The following year, the Mexican
government confirmed that genes from GM plants had indeed contaminated wild
varieties (see Mexico
confirms GM maize contamination).
But in the first peer-reviewed
follow-up to Quist and Chapela's study, researchers say that they found no
evidence of genes from GM maize in more than 150,000 seeds taken from 870 plants
in Oaxaca in 2003 and 2004.
The authors, led by Allison Snow of Ohio
State University, United States, sampled seeds from 125 fields in Oaxaca.
"We conclude that transgenic maize seeds were absent or extremely rare
in the sampled field," they write in today's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
One of Snow's
co-authors is Exequiel Ezcurra, of Mexico's Environment and Natural Resources
Secretariat. In 2002, Ezcurra told the Mexican newspaper La Reforma that "genetic contamination of wild Mexican varieties is taking place".
At the
time it was thought that GM maize imported from the United States and planted in
Mexico without authorisation was the source of the genes.
Fears arose
that this 'contamination' would threaten the genetic diversity of wild maize
varieties, for which Mexico is the origin and centre of diversity.
Snow
and colleagues (including Ezcurra) now write, however, that their results "suggest that many concerns about unwanted or unknown effects of this process
can be discounted at present, at least within the sampled region".
They
accept that GM genes might have been present in 2001 but say they might have
since disappeared.
Chapela says he welcomes the research but says it
raises more questions than it gives answers.
"It is very difficult to
believe that the contamination we found in 2001 had gone by 2003-2004," he told
SciDev.Net. "I don't believe that is something that happens in biology ever."
Snow's team points out that "evidence that genes are rare or
absent in the sampled area should not be extrapolated to other regions of Mexico
without quantitative data, nor is the current situation likely to remain
static".
Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences
Source: SciDev.net
9 August 2005
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1.10 The genetic origins of corn on the cob
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
New gene
plays central role in plant architecture and crop domestication
In 1909,
while harvesting a typical corn crop (Zea mays) in Illinois, a field worker
noticed a plant so unusual that it was initially believed to be a new species.
Its "peculiarly shaped ear" was "laid aside as a curiosity" and the specimen was
designated Zea ramosa (from the Latin ramosus, "having many branches"). Due to
the alteration of a single gene, later named ramosa1, both the ear and the
tassel of the plant were more highly branched than usual, leading to loose,
crooked kernel rows and to a tassel that was far bushier than the tops of normal
corn plants.
Now, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New
York have isolated the ramosa1 gene and shown how it controls the arrangement
and length of flower-bearing branches in corn, related cereal crops, and
ornamental grasses. The study indicates that during the domestication of corn
from its wild ancestor (teosinte), early farmers selected plants with special
versions of the ramosa1 gene that suppressed branching in the ear, leading to
the straight rows of kernels and the compact ears of modern-day corn on the cob.
The findings are described in the July 24 advance online edition of the journal
Nature.
"We've shown that corn and related grasses have either none,
some, or a lot of ramosa1 gene activity, and that these different levels of
activity have a big impact on the architecture of the plants," says Dr. Robert
Martienssen of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who led the study. "The ramosa1
gene appears to be a key player in the domestication of corn, and we've shown
that it acts by signaling cells to form short rather than long branches," says
Martienssen, who was joined in the study by lead author Dr. Erik Vollbrecht, now
at Iowa State University.
Says Vollbrecht, "We solved this enduring
puzzle by combining classical and modern molecular genetics. The former included
our use of transposable elements or 'jumping genes'--discovered at Cold Spring
Harbor by [Nobel laureate] Barbara McClintock--to 'tag' the ramosa1 gene. That
enabled us to isolate the gene and determine its DNA sequence for a variety of
other experiments."
"As corn was being domesticated, farmers selected a
larger and larger ear with more and more rows of kernels, based on the activity
of genes other than ramosa1. But we suspect that as the ear got larger, it
needed special alleles of ramosa1 to prevent the extra rows from forming
branches instead of kernels," says Martienssen. "There may have been other
reasons for selecting an unbranched ear, including the interaction with other
genes that were subsequently lost during domestication, but we don't yet know if
this is the case."
The study reveals that plants with more ramosa1
activity (e.g. typical corn) tend to have fewer branches, shorter branches, and
fewer flowers whereas plants with less ramosa1 activity (e.g. sorghum, rice, and
the ramosa corn variety described above) tend to have more branches, longer
branches, and more flowers.
"We also looked at a popular ornamental
grass that grows outside my office and found the same result. It has a spiky top
like corn, so we were delighted to find that they have similar profiles of
ramosa1 activity," says Martienssen.
The study was funded by the
National Science Foundation, the USDA, and the Life Sciences Research
Foundation.
Source: EurekAlert.com
24 July 2005
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1.11 Beating world hunger: the return of 'neglected'
crops
T. V. Padma
For many centuries, farmers in southern India's
Kolli Hills grew nearly 30 varieties of millet. But during the past three
decades, the cereal fields were replanted with cassava and sago palms, as more
and more farms agreed to supply starch for local producers of processed food.
Today, millet is not grown there, and local communities instead eat
government-distributed rice, which although sold at a discount price is less
nutritious.
Far away in the Andes of South America, traditionally
cultivated grains such as quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and amaranth
(Amaranthus caudatus) are a natural source of protein and iron.
Like native potato varieties however, they are seen as 'poor people's food' and
are being replaced by noodles and rice.
Similarly, sub-Saharan Africa is
endowed with almost 1,000 types of leafy vegetable and fruit rich in
micronutrients. But again, these are not considered fashionable to eat
unlike exotic, imported cabbages so are disappearing from the African
landscape.
Nor have any of these crops featured much in modern
agricultural research, even though given their nutritional value they could contribute to food security and poverty alleviation.
Shrinking food basket
Since the early 20th century, people
have relied increasingly on a select few plants for food, with about half of the
world's calorie intake coming from just three crops rice, wheat and maize.
According to the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI)
based in Rome, Italy, at least 7,000 plant species could be cultivated for food,
but only 150 crops are grown commercially.
"The world increasingly relies
on a shrinking food basket of a few crops to fulfil the dietary needs of its
people," agrees M. S. Swaminathan, a leading Indian crop expert and chair of the
M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), which focuses on sustainable
agriculture and rural development.
Traditionally, crop research has paid
little attention to species that are important to a community or region, but not
in international markets.
"Underused species important for agricultural
biodiversity have not been the subject of international research and
development," warns Rodney Cooke, director of the technical advisory commission
at the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Neglected crops and hidden hunger
To address this, IPGRI
launched a project in 2001 to incorporate these 'neglected' crops into ongoing
research activities throughout the developing world. The current focus is on
millets in India and Nepal; medicinal plants in Egypt and Yemen; grains in
Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru; and leafy vegetables in Africa.
In April
2005, IPGRI, the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species and MSSRF
held a meeting on agricultural biodiversity in Chennai, India.
Participants agreed that increasing research on neglected crops could
improve nutrition among poor people and help achieve the UN Millennium
Development Goal of halving the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015
(see Neglected
crops 'crucial' to beating hunger).
They warned that interpreting the
goal as meaning that each person gets more food ignores the fact that
malnutrition is also about people not getting enough micronutrients, vitamins
and minerals a problem described as "hidden hunger".
IPGRI
estimates that 150 million children 27 per cent of the world's child
population are underweight, with malnutrition contributing to at least
half of the 10.4 million child deaths each year.
Vitamin A deficiency,
which can cause blindness, afflicts 120 million children a year, of whom 250,000
to 500,000 go blind. Some two billion people are anaemic because of iron
deficiency.
In the past, these deficiencies were tackled through food
fortification programmes, but these cannot be replicated in remote rural areas,
points out IPGRI director-general Emile Frisson. "Dietary diversity is the way
forward," he says.
Back to the fields
Together with local
partners in the South, IPGRI is returning several neglected crops to the fields.
One partner, Bolivia's Foundation for the Promotion and Research of
Andean Products (PROINPA) is working with farmers to improve crops, food
security and sustainability. Various types of local potatoes, roots, grains,
cereals, legumes, vegetables and fruits are researched, grown, processed into
food products and promoted.
In India, MSSRF is collaborating with IPGRI
and the International Fund for Agricultural Development to re-establish the
traditional role of millets in the farming system and local diet.
Like
the Kolli Hill dwellers, poor communities in Ballia village in Orissa, eastern
India, grew a variety of millets 30 years ago. This all changed when an
irrigation project allowed intensive rice cultivation with two or three crops in
a year. As rice demanded more labour, nobody could be spared to grow the
millets.
During drought or when food resources are scarce, people in
Kolli or Ballia who cannot afford to buy food through the public distribution
system survive on rice stored for sowing during the next crop cycle. This can in
turn lead to problems buying seed for the next season.
No grain, no
gain
MSSRF is helping these communities build their own village 'grain
banks' to store both rice and millet. Local community groups manage an initial
reserve of the grains for members to borrow from during times of need. The
'loans' must be returned as grain, along with grain 'interest'.
Farmers
in Kolli say the grain banks are helping to conserve traditional millet
varieties that were in danger of being lost.
Meanwhile, Kenya is
witnessing renewed interest in local vegetables.
"Ironically, as Africa
grapples with nutrition problems, it is endowed with a high diversity of
underused fruits and vegetables that are rich in micronutrients," says Ruth
Oniang'o, founder of the Rural Outreach Program, a Kenyan non-profit
organisation that promotes African leafy vegetables to improve the nutritional
status and livelihoods of vulnerable groups, especially women and children. .
Since 2001, IPGRI with support from the International Development
Research Centre in Canada has launched major public awareness campaigns,
trained farmers to grow leafy vegetables in clean conditions and worked with a
marketing expert in Kenya on how to attract new customers.
A local NGO,
Family Concerns, distributes the farmers' produce to Kenya's largest supermarket
chain.
Oniang'o says there is an urgent need to increase research on
nutrition and crop genetics, and to improve seed storage facilities, and
processing and marketing of African leafy vegetables.
From fields to
supermarkets
It is not enough to encourage local farmers to grow their
traditional crops. Successful marketing is just as important for creating
sustainable livelihoods.
Take yacon (Smallanthus
sonchifolius), a succulent root from Peru that was once eaten by farmers to
quench their thirst. Twenty years ago, yacon was not included in Peru's
crop statistics and was absent from its supermarket shelves.
In the
1980s Japanese scientists found the roots were high in a low-calorie sugar
called oligofructose, which could be used in an energising drink, while the
leaves contained a compound that lowered blood sugar and could be useful for
diabetics. As news of the findings spread in the late 1990s, demand increased.
Today, yacon is available in Peruvian supermarkets.
Elsewhere
others are working hard to create demand for farmers' products.
Gerardo
Jorge Blajos of PROINPA says that in Bolivia school breakfasts now use up to 120
tonnes of quinoa flour every year and about 30,000 nursing mothers get three
kilograms of quinoa every month from government-funded
programmes.
Overcoming the obstacles
But despite these
initiatives, small farmers growing crops outside the mainstream find it
difficult to enter international markets.
Yacon may be enjoying a
renaissance in Peru, but it cannot be sold in Europe. The European Union's Novel
Foods Regulation states that foods not present in the EU before 1997 must be
proved to be free of allergenic, toxic and other hazards before they can be
sold. Yacon farmers simply do not have the resources to supply exhaustive
data.
In fact, the only exotic plant product that has been allowed into
Europe since that legislation came in is the juice of the noni fruit
(Morinda citrifolia), which is marketed by a large US company that was
able to supply extensive food safety evidence.
"Pioneering small
companies in developing countries are losing out," says Michael Hermann from
IPGRI's regional office for the Americas, in Colombia.
He adds that
while those promoting exotic foods must increasingly accommodate legitimate food
safety concerns and generate data needed for their acceptance in target markets,
the high burden of proof has discouraged investment in supply chains and in
market development.
Making neglected crops a sustainable
option
Participants at the Chennai meeting called for action to conserve
agricultural diversity and to make better use of it to improve food security,
nutrition and incomes for the rural poor in developing countries.
As
well as more research on traditional crops, they recommended that policies to
preserve them be integrated into national development plans, and food and
nutrition security programmes, especially those providing food aid and school
meals.
Getting neglected crops back on the menu is important, they said,
but so is ensuring that the poor get a fair share of any commercial benefits
that arise from exploiting these genetic resources.
Some of the ongoing
efforts have shown the way forward. The Kolli Hill millet farmers have taken an
interest in conserving their local varieties, bringing more area under millet
cultivation and improving yields by using traditional breeding methods.
Incomes have increased, in part because the farmers grow millet without
using chemicals. A local company is working with the farmers to export their
millet as organically grown food, for which there is considerable demand in the
West.
Inspired by this initiative a local government agency in the Kolli
Hill area is trying to promote such similar activities elsewhere in the
area.
Source: SciDev.net
5 August 2005
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1.12 Paper examines naked maize grain origins
Corn's
ancestor, the wild Mexican grass teosinte, features encased kernels that are
hard to remove, cook, and eat. Somewhere along the way, the kernels were freed,
and corn grew on the surface of the ear, making it an easy-to-consume food
source, and becoming today's maize. The steps, genetic or otherwise, which led
to the change, were regarded as an evolutionary mystery, until Huai Wang of the
University of Wisconsin and colleagues looked into "The origin of the naked
grains of maize." The results of their work appear in the latest issue of
Nature.
Armed with the maize genetic map, physical maps for maize inbreds
B73 and Mo17, and the rice physical map, scientists set out to develop a set of
molecular markers near tga1, which they found was to be the single controlling
gene of maize domestication. Teosinte's Tga1, or teosinte glume architecture,
was different from its maize counterpart by only one amino acid. With more
experiments involving blotting, hybridization, and PCR, scientists also mapped
tga1 expression, which was strong in immature ears, weak in husks, and nowhere
in other corn tissues.
Nature subscribers can access the full article at
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7051/full/nature03863.html
.
Other readers can take a look at the preview at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7051/abs/nature03863.html
.
From CropBiotech Update 5 August 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E.
Smith
Dept. of Plant Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
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1.13 GM plant produces non-GM watermelon
Wagdy
Sawahel
A combination of genetic modification and traditional plant grafting
techniques can help watermelon crops resist a potent plant virus without
introducing foreign genes into the fruit, say researchers.
The method
could be applied to other crops, such as cucumber and melon, which the virus can
also damage.
Instead of genetically modifying an entire watermelon plant,
the team of Korean biotechnologists modified only the 'rootstock', a kind of
underground stem, to which seedlings of commercial watermelon varieties are
grafted. This produced fruit that contained no foreign genes, avoiding some of
the often-controversial issues relating to genetically modified crops.
The findings were published online in Plant Cell Reports on 15
June.
Seedlings of commercial watermelon species tend to be grafted to
hardier, wild watermelon rootstocks that are better able to resist infection.
But even robust rootstock is vulnerable to a virus found in soil, called
the 'cucumber green mottle mosaic virus'. The virus causes the plant's leaves to
turn yellow and makes the fruit rot.
The researchers say that because
genes conferring resistance to the virus do not exist in nature, traditional
plant breeding cannot solve the problem.
To create a resistant plant,
they inserted a viral gene into watermelon rootstock.
One in ten of the
modified rootstocks were resistant to infection.
The researchers say that
it is unclear how the inserted viral gene protects the watermelon. One potential
mechanism is 'gene silencing', in which the production of a viral protein in the
modified plant stops it being made in the virus. As a result, the virus cannot
reproduce.
Fernan Lambein, of the Institute for Plant Biotechnology for
Developing Countries in Belgium, told SciDev.Net that the study supports the use
of grafting to grow plants that are susceptible to this type of infection.
Lambein added that although grafting is time-consuming and requires
substantial technical experience, developing countries such as Brazil, China,
Egypt and Mexico must give the technique more attention if they are to keep
their position in the international watermelon market.
He also said the
technique is economical for poor farmers in developing countries as they do not
have to buy chemicals to kill the virus, an expense that can be as high as
US$875 per hectare. In addition, the technique uses less fertiliser, increases
yield and produces high-quality fruit.
Lambein said small-scale farmers
who are unable to graft their own seedlings could use pre-grafted seedlings.
Link
to article in Plant
Cell Reports
Reference: Plant Cell Reports
doi:10.1007/s00299-005-0946-8
Source: SciDev.net
26 July
2005
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1.14 Some corn hybrids show promise for high-temperature
drying
Urbana, Illinois
Drying corn at too high a temperature can
damage starch and make it difficult to extract, but research at the University
of Illinois suggests that certain corn hybrids might be more resistant to high
temperatures.
"So it looks like resistance to high temperature may well
be a genetically controlled trait," said Steven Eckhoff, University of Illinois agricultural and
biological engineer. This means hybrids might be developed that can be dried at
high temperatures--a clear economic advantage for producers.
"As a
producer, I want to dry my corn at as high a temperature as I'm allowed to use,"
Eckhoff said. "The higher I can dry at, the faster my throughput is, the lower
my cost.
"I call drying temperature the wild card in terms of grain
quality," he added. "You can do everything else right, but your work can be
destroyed in an instant with too high of a drying temperature."
The goal
of Eckhoff's research is to determine the magnitude of the effect of drying
temperature on starch extractability, and to determine if sensitivity to drying
temperature varies by hybrid. Eckhoff chose 12 hybrids in cooperation with
researchers at Pioneer's Champaign Research
Center for his study.
Moisture content of the corn plays an equally
important part in this process, so corn harvested at 35 percent and 22 percent
moisture content was dried at temperatures of 230 F and 77 F.
"We found
that the responses were different for different hybrids," he said.
Starch
yield loss was highest when corn with high moisture content was dried at high
temperatures. But the loss ranged from 4.6 percent to 12.7 percent, depending
upon the hybrid.
Although drying corn with low moisture content at low
temperatures proved best for starch extractability, when certain hybrids with
low moisture content were dried at both high and low temperatures, starch
extractability was comparable.
This research shows promise for
developing hybrids that can be dried at higher temperatures. The next step is to
look at the effect of drying at multiple (15-25) locations to determine how much
this characteristic is influenced by environment and how much is genetics. But
coordinating such a large study poses its share of logistics problems, said
Eckhoff.
"You have one shot at drying every year," he explained. "You
want to bring in samples from multiple locations and you have to have enough
dryers to dry them all down about the same time. Coordinating that is almost
impossible."
So Eckhoff set out to make an inexpensive dryer that could
be used on location at farms and test fields. He attached a standard funnel to
the barrel of a commercial heat gun using black pipe. A mesh screen, stretched
across the top of the funnel, holds several layers of corn. A thermocouple is
placed directly below the corn and is attached to a data recorder, to read and
record the temperature.
After trying several heat guns, he found one
that had a fairly sensitive temperature control. Researchers were able to keep
the temperature stable and use it for sample preparation.
"It still needs
to be worked on, but it's not bad," said Eckhoff. "And it gave us samples of 600
to 700 grams, which was plenty for the starch yield testing we needed to
do."
The system certainly paid off in terms of results. "We think this
research shows there is potential to produce high yielding hybrids that have
high starch extractability at a high drying temperature," Eckhoff concluded.
"That would be the best of all worlds."
Author: Leanne
Lucas
Source: SeedQuest.com
28 July 2005
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1.15 Genetic discovery could lead to drought-resistant
plants
Toronto, Ontario
New knowledge of how plants "breathe" may
help us breed and select plants that would better survive scorching summers,
says a University of Toronto study.
The paper, which offers the first example of a gene that controls how
leaves close their surface pores, appears in the July 12 issue of Current Biology. "It's very exciting,"
says University of Toronto botany professor and senior author Malcolm Campbell.
"This is a gene that helps regulate carbon dioxide uptake. If plants are the
Earth's lungs, we've just discovered a key piece of information about how the
Earth breathes."
The pores on the surface of plant leaves, called
stomata, function like little mouths that open and close in response to cues
such as light, temperature, and water availability. Using mouse-ear cress, a
relative of mustard, cabbage and radish plants, Campbell and co-authors from
University of Toronto and the University of
Lancaster compared the cooling rates of plants with normal, high and low
levels of gene activity. From their data, they were able to link the gene to
plant exhalation.
The discovery is another step in understanding how
plants respond to their environment. In hot temperatures, plants keep their
mouths "shut" longer than usual, to avoid losing gases and water through
evaporation. However, they must open their stomata at some point, both to pick
up carbon dioxide needed for photosynthesis and to release oxygen back into the
atmosphere. This new information will be important to plant breeders looking to
improve crop resistance to drought, as well as to those seeking to understand
plants' evolutionary responses to climate, says Campbell.
"These genes
are of paramount importance. They allow plants to adapt to changes in light,
carbon and water availability. Ultimately, they shape the flux of carbon and
water throughout entire ecosystems and affect the carbon cycle on a
global-scale." The study was supported by the University of Toronto, the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council of the U.K.
Source:
SeedQuest.com
18 July 2005
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1.16
Down the road with new Roundup Ready
alfalfa
Lincoln, Nebraska
After years of testing, evaluating, and
regulating, Roundup Ready® alfalfa finally has been approved. There is only
enough seed for about 75,000 acres nationwide this fall, but greater
availability is expected for next spring.
Roundup Ready alfalfa will only be
in top-of-the-line varieties, which should limit yield drag. This was an issue
for some when Roundup Ready soybeans were introduced.
Where will Roundup
Ready alfalfa fit best? Well obviously, if you consistently have problems with
weeds when establishing new stands, this will easily solve the problem. More
often, though, I expect Roundup Ready alfalfa to help solve special problems
like bluegrass in irrigated alfalfa or mustards and downy brome in spring
growth. It also may help with curly dock or late season waterhemp or summer
grasses like foxtail, crabgrass, and sandburs.
Because of the cost -- the
tech fee is $2.50 per pound or $125 extra for a 50 lb bag of seed -- Roundup
Ready alfalfa will be most suitable for use in higher value situations like
dairy or horse hay. By eliminating weeds, it will be easier for growers to
produce this hay and capitalize on these cash hay markets.
Roundup Ready
also should help extend stand life by eliminating weeds, especially winter
annual weeds, that hurt alfalfa stands the most. Roundup Ready alfalfa will not
be right for everyone. Each grower will need to examine his or her situation and
then decide if the investment is worth it.
Bruce Anderson
Extension
Forage Specialist
Source: CropWatch via SeedQuest.com
1 August
2005
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1.17 Enriched lysine plants to fight malnutrition
Basel,
Switzerland
By Shelley Jambresic, Checkbiotech
One billion people
worldwide are suffering from malnutrition. Due to the high demand for energy and
essential nutrients, infants and children are at particular risk of
undernutrition, but supplemented plants may offer a solution. In a recent review
in the Brazilian
Journal of Medical and Biological Research, Doctors Renato Rodriguez
Ferreira, Vanderlei Aparecido Varisi, Lyndel Wayne Meinhardt, Peter John Lea and
Ricardo Antunes Azevedo took a closer look at the production of high-lysine
crops.
About one third of the world's children are affected by symptoms
of protein and vitamin malnutrition such as: developmental and growth
retardation, increased risk of infection and higher risk of death and blindness.
Therefore, one of the challenges has been the production of crops containing
higher concentrations of essential amino acids, such as lysine. However, apart
from protein enriched maize currently commercially available, the release of
high-protein crops has not yet occurred.
The quest for protein enriched
crops arises with the problem that humans cannot synthesize all amino acids on
their own, and therefore must obtain some from their diet. Humans need nine
essential amino acids, such as lysine, methionine, threonine or isoleucine that
they cannot produce on their own.
The amount of essential amino acids,
along with how well a protein can be digested, determine its nutritional quality
for humans.
"Lysine is one of the most limiting amino acids in plants
consumed by humans," explained Dr. Azevedo from Departamento de Genetica in Sao
Paulo, Brazil in the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological
Research. In western societies, meat is the main source of essential amino
acids such as lysine.
"However, in developing countries the main, and
sometimes only source, are plants," Dr.
Azevedo further said.
In
addition, in many developing countries, these plants that Dr. Azevedo referred
to constitute practically the entire diet of an average person. Compounding the
problem is that the grains from these plants lack lysine, which causes
malnutrition symptoms.
In order to decrease the problem of malnutrition,
various studies have been carried out to obtain a better understanding of the
biosynthesis of lysine. The overall aim in the end was to be able to construct
genetically engineered plants producing higher amounts of lysine in their seeds.
Several strategies have been developed for the production of high-lysine
plants. The conventional, long-term plant breeding programs – a simple and
traditional, but effective approach - have been used to select plants with
improved protein quality. Perhaps the most significant finding through this
approach was the naturally occurring high-lysine maize mutant, opaque-2.
However, field studies eventually showed that these high-lysine maize varieties
were not productive enough for agricultural uses.
"The correlation
between nutritional quality and yield has been a serious issue over the years,
since the two factors appear to be negatively correlated," Dr. Azevedo told the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research. "Unfortunately, the
high-lysine mutants exhibited undesirable agronomic
characteristics."
Only more recently, in 1999 Gaziola et al. partially
overcame the negative traits with the development of a genetically engineered
quality protein maize. "These new maize hybrids have been designated QPM
(quality protein maize) and several hybrids were produced and introduced into
the market", said Dr. Azevedo. "However, the widespread use of these varieties
has not been as fast as initially expected."
Despite the better
agronomical quality, research led by Dr. Azevedo’s laboratory described in 2001
that the engineering of the lysine biosynthesis in plants did not lead to lysine
production in the seeds, rather in the leaves. Furthermore, the modified genes
also showed to have an effect on the biosynthesis of other amino acids and
enzymatic activities.
Various studies with lysine producing plants
include the production of alternative maize mutants, as well as other important
cereal crops such as rice, barely and sorghum. Such high-lysine plants could be
more useful in terms of commercial use, while also decreasing the incidence of
malnutrition and undernutrition in developing countries.
"In 1997, when
reviewing the aspartate metabolic pathway, we hoped that in five years
high-lysine transgenic crop plants would be available to farmers," explained Dr.
Azevedo.
Still, apart from the QPM lines, very little else in the way of
high-lysine crops is available nowadays. Dr. Azevedo suggested in the
Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, "Perhaps recent
legislations and general concern about the use of modified genetic organisms
have been the major setback regarding the release of such
crops."
Ferreira et al. Are high-lysine cereal crops still a challenge?
Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research. 2005
Source:
Checkbiotech via SeedQuest.com
11
August 2005
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1.18 A whole
genome approach to marker discovery in
lettuce
Davis, California
The
Seed Biotechnology Center at UC Davis and and Dr. Richard Michelmore,
Director of the UC Davis
Genome Center, are partnering with an industry consortium to develop
microarray-based tools for DNA marker discovery. With these tools approximately
25,000 lettuce genes will be simultaneously screened for diversity in breeding
germplasm. The resulting markers will be validated to develop high density maps
to identify and manipulate loci linked to important traits in lettuce. This
project will directly benefit the lettuce industry by providing new tools (high
throughput molecular markers, SNPs) to improve lettuce.
The Marker
Discovery project is offering a Postdoctorate Fellowship. For more
information go to: sbc.ucdavis.edu
Source:
SeedQuest.com
10 August 2005
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Contents)
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1.19
New high sugar grass released
Perennial ryegrass
(Lolium perenne L.) is the main grass species used for feeding cattle and sheep
in temperate regions. Research at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental
Research (IGER) has shown that increasing the water-soluble carbohydrate (sugar)
concentration of perennial ryegrass alters nitrogen partitioning in the rumen
and so reduces the amount of nitrogen excreted to the environment. The sugar grass concept works by providing
the rumen micro-organisms with an improved balance of nutrients in freshly
ingested herbage which helps their growth. These organisms are digested later by
gastric processes when they pass into the abomasum (or true stomach) and their
digestion products are taken up from the small intestine. Increasing the sugar
content of the herbage also leads to a reduction in fibre content of the grass,
thereby increasing intake. If improved nitrogen use efficiency in the rumen and
increase forage intake is sufficiently large, these two characteristics of high
sugar grasses lead to improving milk production and liveweight gain in ruminants
as well as environmental benefit. AberStar is a high sugar variety newly
recommended for use in the UK in 2005. In an experiment at IGER, its mean sugar
content over 21 harvests during 3 harvest years was 246 compared with 191
g/kg of dry matter for the old IGER variety S23. It had the highest value for in
vitro digestibility under simulated grazing of all the varieties in UK National
List trials.
AberStar resulted from a programme of research and
breeding at IGER funded by both government sources (Defra and BBSRC) and private
industry (Germinal Holdings Ltd.).
Contributed by Peter Wilkins
pete.wilkins@bbsrc.ac.uk
(Return to Contents)
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1.20 Potential
control of cassava mosaic disease with antisense RNAs
Peng Zhang,
Hervé Vanderschuren, Johannes Fütterer and Wilhelm Gruissem. 2005. Resistance to
cassava mosaic disease in transgenic cassava expressing antisense RNAs targeting
virus replication genes. Plant Biotechnology Journal 3:385-397.
Summary
African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV) is a major contributor to
cassava mosaic disease (CMD), the economically most important and devastating
disease of cassava in Africa. We have developed transgenic cassava plants with
increased ACMV resistance using improved antisense RNA technology by targeting
the viral mRNAs of Rep (AC1), TrAP (AC2) and
REn (AC3). Viral DNA replication assays in detached leaves
demonstrated that replication of two ACMV isolates was strongly reduced or
inhibited in most transgenic lines. After ACMV infection of plants using
biolistic inoculation, several lines remained symptomless at lower infection
pressure (100 ng viral DNA/plant). Symptom development was reduced and
attenuated even at higher DNA doses. Transgenic ACMV-resistant plants had
significantly reduced viral DNA accumulation in their infected leaves. Short
sense and antisense RNAs specific to AC1 were identified in transgenic
lines expressing AC1 antisense RNA, suggesting that the short RNAs
mediate interference by post-transcriptional gene silencing. Our results
demonstrate that resistance to ACMV infection of cassava can be achieved with
high efficacy by expressing antisense RNAs against viral mRNAs encoding
essential non-structural proteins, providing a new tool to combat CMD in
Africa.
(Return to
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1.21
Traditional breeding yields new rice
Recent
traditional breeding work has yielded a new variety of rice that is heavier with
seeds, but not too tall to fall or rot in the rain. Motoyuki Ashikari of Nagoya
University, and colleagues published their work, " Cytokinin Oxidase
Regulates Rice Grain Production," in the journal Science.
Researchers
scoured through the rice genome, investigating areas that influenced seed
productivity. They singled out Gn1a, which codes for cytokinin
oxidase/dehydrogenase, an enzyme that degrades the plant hormone cytokinin. An
inactive Gn1a gene keeps the hormone intact, and allows it to accumulate in the
plant - this, in turn, pushes a plant to produce more seeds.
Scientists
screened the DNA of thousands of plants, some of them well known for producing
many seeds, and others tending to be short, in order to select the best plants
to cross with each other. A successful cross finally yielded the desired
breed.
Read the press release at http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050620/full/050620-13.html
From
CropBiotech Update 1 July 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
(Return to
Contents)
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1.22 IR-maize to be launched in
Kenya
July 5th, 2005 will mark the first day that
Imidazolinone-Resistant maize (IR-maize), or the Clearfield system, will be
used.in Kenya. Eight years of research will culminate in a launch in Kisumu,
Kenya, and in a ceremony to be presided over by Kenya Agricultural Research
Institute (KARI)
Director Dr. Romano Kiome.
IR-maize, developed by breeding, allows
farmers to use herbicides that will protect the crop from Striga , a
parasitic weed that has caused major problems for Sub-Saharan African farmers
for over 70 years. Various control methods have been exercised over the years,
but none have been effective in attacking the weed before its emergence. The new
technology does exactly that: by treating seed and/or soil with imidazolinone
herbicides, germinating Striga is killed before it can infect maize roots, and
remaining seeds of the weed are destroyed, reducing weed numbers
dramatically.
From CropBiotech Update 1 July 2005:
Contributed by
Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of Plant Breeding & Genetics. Cornell
University
(Return to
Contents)
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1.23 Work begins on better, bigger wheat
Work has begun
on a new wheat variety that will combine the best of East and West - that is,
the British and Mexican types, to increase yield and sustainability of
agriculture in the United Kingdom (UK). This is being carried out by scientists
at UK's University of Nottingham, in cooperation with the International Center
for Wheat and Maize Improvement (CIMMYT). Funding
support is provided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research
Council (BBSRC
).
Central American wheat varieties have bigger and more fertile ears,
while the UK varieties have smaller ears, and increased capacity for
photosynthesis. Through comparative genetics, developmental biology, and plant
physiology, the researchers hope to find what genes allow Mexican wheat to have
bigger ears. This will hopefully allow them to produce a new, improved UK
variety which will not need extra water or fertilizer.
Read more at http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk,
http://www.cimmyt.org, and
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/public-affairs/pressreleases/index.phtml?menu=
pressreleases&code=BIG-108/05&create_date=05-jul-2005
From
CropBiotech Update 8 July 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
(Return to
Contents)
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1.24
ARS To help improve cassava
The Agricultural
Research Service (ARS), the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA)
chief scientific research agency, will soon contribute to the improvement of
cassava, one of the African continent's most important food crops. With ARS
molecular biologist Edgar B. Cahoon, the project aims to increase the cassava
root's vitamin A and E content.
Cassava is a major food source for most
Africans, and is the fourth most important crop in the world. Its root is low in
protein and several micronutrients, however, so the new project seeks to develop
modified roots with higher levels of zinc, iron, protein, and vitamins A and E.
It also hopes to produce cassava with longer shelf life and resistance to
geminivirus infection. Development of the product will take place in the United
States, and will be tested for nutrient content and field stability and safety
in Africa.
The project, called "BioCassava Plus," is a 10-institution
wide endeavor, and is one of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's program
grants in its "Grand Challenges in Global Health" initiative.
For more
information, visit http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2005/050711.htm.
From
CropBiotech Update 15 July 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
(Return to
Contents)
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1.25 Vitamin aids plant immune system as well
Thiamine,
or Vitamin B1, is a potent compound useful in maintaining the immune system of
humans. Spraying it on plants, however, can also contribute to the plant immune
system, and it is this new property of thiamine that Il-Pyung Ahn and colleagues
from the Seoul National University explore in "Vitamin B1 Functions as an
Activator of Plant Disease Resistance." Their findings appear in this month's
Plant Physiology.
Researchers found that thiamine induces systemic
acquired resistance (SAR) in plants, which enhances resistance to many, but not
all fungal, bacterial, and viral pathogens. By spraying thiamine on rice,
Arabidopsis, and cucumber, among other crops, and inoculating the plants
with the pathogens, the researchers found that the incidence of viral and
bacterial infections amongst the plants was much lower. For instance, thiamine
treatment of the rice cultivar Nakdong also induced resistance to the compatible
bacterial leaf blight pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae
strain.
The effect of thiamine spraying lasted for as long as 15 days for
the plants. These findings provide a new way by which scientists could develop
strategies for the control of plant diseases.
Read more in this month's
Plant Physiology at http://www.plantphysiol.org.
The article appears on pp. 1505-1515 of the journal.
From CropBiotech
Update 22 July 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of Plant
Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
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1.26 Research compares GM, conventional potato
varieties
An article in this month's Plant Physiology reports on the "Comparison of Tuber Proteomes of Potato Varieties, Landraces, and Genetically
Modified Lines," a study conducted by Satu J. Lehesranta and colleagues of the
University of Kuopio, Finland. Using 2-dimensional protein electrophoresis,
researchers compared 32 non-genetically modified (GM) genotypes, 21 tetraploid
cultivars, 8 landraces, and 3 diploid lines.
Researchers found that only
9 out of 730 proteins showed significant differences between GM lines and their
controls. There was much less variation between GM lines and their non-GM
controls, compared with that found between different varieties and landraces.
Moreover, no new proteins unique to individual GM lines were observed; thus,
there was no evidence for any major changes in protein pattern in the GM lines
tested.
Read more in this month's Plant Physiology at http://www.plantphysiol.org.
The article appears on pp. 1690-1699 of the journal.
From CropBiotech
Update 22 July 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of Plant
Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
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1.27 Study looks at divergence of seed size
Angela T.
Moles of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis of the United
States, and colleagues determine the "Factors that shape seed mass evolution" through statistical analysis of data from present-day species, as well as those
available from paleobotanical literature. Their findings appear in the latest
issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online.
It
was not until 85 million years ago that seed sizes changed dramatically,
resulting in seeds greater in size by as much as 11 orders of magnitude compared
with their ancestors, or even with their present-day cousins. To determine what
factors led to such diversity in seed size, researchers used seed mass data from
12,987 seed plant species, 318 of which were gymnosperms, and
12,669 of which were angiosperms. Using
a statistical technique called correlated divergence analysis, and factoring in
various aspects of plant growth, including growth form, temperature,
precipitation, and leaf area index, among others, they found that difference in
seed mass have arisen mainly due to evolutionary divergence in growth
form.
Researchers also found that species with unassisted dispersal or
wind dispersal had smaller seeds than species dispersed by animals or water.
They also confirmed that herbs and grasses generally make smaller seeds than
shrubs, which generally make smaller seeds than trees or vines.
For more
information, download the article at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0501473102.
From
CropBiotech Update 29 July 2005:
Contributed by Margaret E. Smith
Dept. of
Plant Breeding & Genetics. Cornell University
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1.28 Suppressed gene delays tomato ripening
When
Tzann-Wei Wang and colleagues of the University of Waterloo, Canada suppressed the
activity of deoxyhypusine synthase (DHS) in tomato plants, they found that the
tomato fruits did not ripen as quickly as their conventional counterparts, and
that, at higher levels of suppression, plants were sterile or had changes in
plant structure. Their work, “Antisense Suppression of Deoxyhypusine Synthase
in Tomato Delays Fruit Softening and Alters Growth and Development,” appears
in this month’s Plant Physiology.
DHS is an enzyme present in eukaryotic cells, and participates in
reactions that activate other enzymes, which in turn initiate protein
translation. Researchers found, through RNA blotting, that the enzyme family
activated by DHS likewise increased in expression as fruits began to age and
soften.
Researchers suppressed the activity of DHS by expressing part of
the enzyme’s untranslated region in tomato, resulting in antisense gene control
for the plant. With much lower DHS activity in the transgenic tomato,
researchers found that 1) transgenic fruits ripened normally, but exhibited
delayed post-harvest softening and aging; 2) transgenic plants under strong DHS
suppression were also male sterile and did not produce fruit; and 3) these same
plants had larger, thicker leaves with higher levels of chlorophyll.
Read
more in this month’s Plant Physiology.
The article appears on pp. 1372-1382 of the journal.
Source: CropBiotech Net via SeedQuest.com
22 July
2005
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1.29 Undergraduate
plant research at University of California Riverside
Eleven
undergraduate students from across the nation do plant research at UCR
http://www.newsroom.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=1126
Contributed
by Kathy Barton
U. California, Riverside
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1.30
A new molecule discovered in the battle between plants and
disease
Pullman, Washington
Washington State University
researcher's findings could help crops fend off disease.
Scientists at
Washington State University in Pullman have
discovered a molecule that plays a role in the battle plants must win against
bacteria and fungi that would eat them for lunch.
The group led by
Professor Clarence A. "Bud" Ryan isolated a small protein called Pep1 that
appears to act like a hormone, signaling to the rest of the plant to raise its
defenses at the first sign of an infection.
They also discovered the
receptor protein to which Pep1 binds to exert its protective effects.
Pep1 was isolated from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which is a
species favored by investigators for attributes that facilitate experimentation,
but the same molecule is found in crop species such as canola, soybean, potato,
tomato, rice, and poplar.
Therefore, further work on Pep1 and its
receptor could lead to a general increase in the resistance of crops to
pathogens, which could greatly benefit farmers.
Already, the researchers
have used the Pep1 gene to increase the resistance of Arabidopsis plants to a
fungal pathogen called Pythium irregulare.
These findings will be
presented July 20, at 11:20 at the ASPB meeting at the Washington State
Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, WA.
The abstract, #9183, is
below:
Presenter: Huffaker, Alisa
Authors: Huffaker, Alisa (A); Pearce, Gregory (A); Ryan, Clarence, A (A);
Affiliations:
(A): Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University
Title:
A novel peptide signal, AtPep1, regulates pathogen defense in Arabidopsis
ABSTRACT
AtPep1 is a 23 amino acid peptide that was isolated from
Arabidopsis thaliana (G. Pearce, A. Huffaker, C.A. Ryan, submitted). The peptide
is encoded by a gene at the locus At5g64900 and is derived from the carboxyl
terminus of a 92 amino acid precursor, proAtPep1, a scenario commonly found in
both animal and plant peptide precursors. No physiological role was known for
AtPep1, and a function was sought in Arabidopsis by incubating plants under a
variety of conditions and monitoring expression of the proAtPep1 gene. Cold and
dehydration stress and exposure to ABA or MeSA did not affect the expression of
proAtPep1, but wounding, exposing plants to methyl jasmonate (MeJA), or
supplying plants with the AtPep1 peptide through cut petioles induced expression
of the gene. Also expressed in response to AtPep1 were the PDF1.2 gene (a plant
defensin) and the PR-1 gene, (a pathogenesis-related gene). Two wound-related
genes, LOX2 and VSP2, were not induced by AtPep1. Supplying AtPep1 to
jasmonate-deficient fad3-2 fad7-2 fad8 mutant plants did not induce the
proAtPep1, PDF1.2 or PR-1 genes, indicating that AtPep1 signaling involves the
octadecanoid pathway. AtPep1 induction of defense genes in excised Arabidopsis
leaves was inhibited by DPI, implicating the generation of H2O2 in the signaling
pathway. Constitutively overexpressing the proAtPep1 gene in Arabidopsis induced
a constitutive activation of PDF1.2, PR-1, and tyrosine amino transferase (TAT3)
genes, but not the expression of LOX2 or VSP2 genes. The transgenic plants were
more resistant toward the oomycete root pathogen Pythium irregulare than
wild-type plants, evidenced by a more robust leaf and root growth upon
infection. ProAtPep1 belongs to a seven member gene family in Arabidopsis with
tissue-specific paralogs that exhibit differential expression profiles.
Orthologs of the proAtPep1 gene have been identified in important crop species
including canola, soybean, potato, tomato, rice and poplar.
Source: American Society of Plant Biologists via
SeedQuest.com
19 July 2005
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1.31
Trapping genes that control flower
development
Scientists use molecular "gene trap" to identify dozens
of genes involved in the regulation of flower development
Identifying
genes based on patterns of gene expression in specific organs or at specific
stages of development is a useful approach to improving our understanding of
complex biological processes. Scientists Vivian Irish at Yale University in
Connecticut, Rob Martienssen at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and
their colleagues used a strategy known as "gene trapping" to identify numerous
genes involved in the regulation of flower development in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The research is reported in a paper by Nakayama et
al. in the September issue of The Plant
Cell. The gene trap technique involves genetic transformation of
Arabidopsis plants with a reporter gene whose activity is visualized in a
simple assay, leading to the rapid identification of genes that show specific
patterns of expression. In this case, the researchers isolated 80 different gene
trap Arabidopsis lines identifying genes that show distinct patterns of
expression in flower petals and/or stamens (the pollen-bearing organs). The
research is one of the first large-scale gene trap studies in the area of flower
development, and provides extensive information on many genes likely to have
critical roles in this essential stage of plant reproduction.
Genes
provide the blueprints for proteins that carry out the functions of living
cells. In any particular organ or tissue at any particular stage of development,
gene activity may be "on" (expressing the messenger RNA transcripts that lead to
production of the corresponding protein) or "off" (no expression). Examining
gene expression patterns therefore provides information on gene function. Gene
trapping is an alternative to methods such as DNA microarray analysis for the
detection of differentially expressed genes, and has the advantage of
identifying subtle differences in expression patterns within target organs. For
example, genes expressed only in stamen tissue during the early stages of pollen
development are likely to have an important function in controlling pollen
formation.
The gene trap technique used by Drs. Irish and Martienssen
involved genetic transformation of Arabidopsis plants with the reporter
gene -glucuronidase (GUS) lacking an external promoter sequence to drive gene
expression. Each transformation event leads to insertion of the GUS gene at a
random site within the plant genome. All endogenous genes contain promoter
sequences that determine where and when they will be expressed in an organism.
The reporter GUS gene, lacking its own promoter, will only be expressed and
produce the GUS protein if it happens to be inserted into the plant genome in
the immediate vicinity of an endogenous gene promoter. GUS activity is assayed
in transformed plants by treating harvested seedlings with a stain that turns
blue in the presence of GUS. Successful "gene trapped" plants will show the
characteristic blue stain in specific patterns in the organs or tissues of
interest. The endogenous gene corresponding to the trapped promoter can be
fished out of the genome and sequenced based on its proximity to the inserted
reporter gene. Further experiments can then be conducted, for example, to
examine the expression of the native gene in wild type plants and to investigate
gene function by creating mutant plants that either lack expression of or
overproduce the native protein.
As noted by Dr. Martienssen "gene traps
are powerful tools to examine both gene expression and gene function in animal
and plant systems. Large scale studies like this are going to provide valuable
information concerning regulatory networks and target genes". Dr. Irish added
"using the gene trapping strategy, we have identified a host of new genes
involved in floral development, as well as illuminating some of the processes
involved in establishing different tissues and organs. This general approach is
very effective in providing novel insights into development that are not easily
gleaned using other available techniques."
Many of the trapped genes were
sequenced and identified, giving clues about how they might function in petal
and stamen development. Floral organ development depends on appropriate
specification and differentiation of the unique organ identities (e.g. petals,
stamens, ovules). An interesting aspect of this research is the finding that the
expression of many trapped genes is restricted to particular subdomains of the
proximodistal axis of petals and stamens, implying that intensive regulation of
patterning along this axis is critical for floral organ development.
This
research is an excellent example of how modern molecular biology techniques help
to increase our understanding of complex biological processes.
The
research paper cited in this report is available at the following link:
http://www.aspb.org/pressreleases/Sept033985.pdf
Source:
EurekAlert .com
29 July 2005
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1.32
Researchers report complete rice genome
sequence
Rice feeds more than half of the world's human population.
Estimates indicate that the agricultural yield of rice will need to be increased
by some 30% over the next two decades to meet projected increased demands. In
the August 11 issue of the journal Nature, members of a 10-nation International
Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP) report a highly accurate or "finished" map-based DNA sequence of the entire rice genome. The completed rice genome
sequence, which reveals some 37,500 genes on the 12 chromosomes of rice,
provides the raw material for many studies aimed at improving the agricultural
yield of the world's most important food source.
Moreover, because the
rice genome is closely related to that of other major cereal grasses--including
corn, wheat, barley, rye, sorghum, and millet--the complete rice genome sequence
is an extraordinarily useful resource for identifying genes of interest in a
number of different crop plants that collectively supply two-third's of
humanity's food supply.
"This study revealed thousands of genetic
markers or signposts in the rice genome that are of immediate use to plant
breeders and others working to improve rice agriculture," says Dr. W. Richard
McCombie of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a co-leader of the study.
"This is also the first finished genome sequence we have from any crop
plant, so rice is now a great model for how to use genome sequence information
to improve many other aspects of agriculture," says McCombie, who adds that
several programs are already under way to study the structure and function of
rice genes as well as agriculturally relevant genetic variation among different
varieties of rice.
The finished rice genome sequence builds upon earlier
draft sequences published by the private companies Monsanto and Syngenta. Robin
Buell, lead investigator of The Institute of Genomic Research's portion of the
project, calls this a "nice model of a public-private partnership" and added
that by donating their genome sequences to the IRGSP, the companies saved the
public consortium both time and money.
By enabling scientists to
identify genes that underlie agriculturally important traits, a previous
IRGSP-generated rough draft of the rice genome sequence--made publicly available
in 2002--has already spurred both biotechnological and conventional plant
breeding approaches to increasing rice yields. The newly-reported, finished rice
genome sequence has the potential to greatly accelerate these efforts.
"The genetic map will greatly speed the hunt for genes that increase
yield, protect against disease and pests, or provide drought-resistance in rice
and other cereal crops," says Buell.
Formally established in 1998, the
Japanese-led International Rice Genome Sequencing Project comprises researchers
from 32 institutions in Japan, China, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, France,
Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Major U.S. funding for the
project was from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of
Agriculture-Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S.
Department of Energy, and the Rockefeller Foundation. U.S. Efforts were
coordinated by the National Plant Genome Initiative.
Participating U.S.
institutions were Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the University of Arizona,
Rutgers University, The Institute for Genomic Research, Washington University in
St. Louis, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
and Cornell University.
Images are available on request. Detailed
information about the IRGSP is at http://rgp.dna.affrc.go.jp/IRGSP/index.html
Members of the IRGSP available for comment include: W. Richard McCombie,
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Long Island, New York
Robin Buell, The
Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, Maryland
Susan McCouch, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York
Takuji Sasaki, National Institute of
Agrobiological Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan
Source: EurekAlert.com
10
August 2005
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1.33.
E-mail conference on biotechnology and genetic resources
The FAO e-mail conference entitled "The role of biotechnology for
the characterisation and conservation of crop, forest, animal and fishery
genetic resources in developing countries" is now finished. It ran from 6 June
to 3 July 2005, about 650 people subscribed and 127 messages were posted, from
people in 38 different countries. Over 60% of messages came from developing
countries. Of the biotechnologies discussed, most focus was on molecular markers
with much less emphasis on cryopreservation or in vitro culture. Discussions
covered a wide range of issues relevant to crop, forest, animal and fishery
genetic resources, such as the potential role or value that markers have for
prioritising populations for conservation purposes or for characterising
different populations; advantages and disadvantages of different marker systems;
potential importance of DNA banks; international collaboration and capacity
building; and low cost options for tissue culture. The messages are available at http://www.fao.org/biotech/logs/c13logs.htm
or can be requested as a single e-mail (size 184 KB) from
biotech-admin@fao.org.
Source: Update 8-2005 of
FAO-BiotechNews
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1.34
Selected articles from Checkbiotech
Below is a list of articles
from Checkbiotech journalists, relating to plant genetic improvement
Subterranean biotechnology
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10917&start=1&fullsearch=1
Transgenic corn field trials in Bavaria to provide insight
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10888&start=1&fullsearch=1
Genetically engineered alfalfa and lettuce provide healthy pigs
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10889&start=1&fullsearch=1
Fighting against cervical cancer, tobacco raises hope
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10861&start=1&fullsearch=1
Rice learning to cope with salinity
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10862&start=1&fullsearch=1
The Meridian Institute keeping the world up to date
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10782&start=1&fullsearch=1
A big step in understanding plant growth and development
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10771&start=1&fullsearch=1
TransBacter: Gene transfer by open sourcery?
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10772&start=1&fullsearch=1
GM bill fails in German Parliament
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10757&start=1&fullsearch=1
Switzerlands biotechnology debate grows
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10740&start=1&fullsearch=1
'Birth control' enabling field trials
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10711&start=1&fullsearch=1
New hopes for genetic engineering in Europe
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10680&start=16&fullsearch=1
A corporate group in panic
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10670&start=16&fullsearch=1
Mastitis is a dead duck
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=checkbiotech&doc_id=10577&start=16&fullsearch=1
Submittted by Robert Derham
Editor, Checkbiotech
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=========================
2 PUBLICATIONS
2.01 Cartagena Protocol reports now available in all six official UN
languages
The report of the 2nd meeting of the Conference of the
Parties serving as the meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP/2),
that took place from 30 May to 3 June 2005 in Montreal, Canada, is now available
in all six official UN languages (i.e. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian
and Spanish).
See document UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/2/15 at http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.aspx?mtg=MOP-02.
In
addition, the 19-page report of the 1st meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working
Group of Legal and Technical Experts on Liability and Redress in the Context of
the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, held on 25-27 May 2005 in Montreal, Canada,
is also available on the same webpage in these six languages (document
UNEP/CBD/BS/COP-MOP/2/11).
Contact secretariat@biodiv.org if requiring
further information.
Source: SeedQuest.com
20 July 2005
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2.02 FAO book on fodder
oats
As part of the FAO Plant
Production and Protection Series, FAO's Crop and Grassland Service has just
published "Fodder oats: A world overview", edited by J.M. Suttie and S.G.
Reynolds.
The 13-chapter book brings together information on the state
of fodder oats worldwide, and is aimed mainly at agronomists and extension
workers. Information from all regions of the world is provided by contributing
authors who are regional experts in their field and particular attention is
given to countries where fodder oats are, or are becoming, important in the
smallholder sector.
The book also provides some information on breeding
programmes in different regions, describing e.g. hybridisation, wide crossing
and tissue culture in China.
See http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5765e/y5765e00.htm
or contact eric.kueneman@fao.org to
request a copy.
Source: FAO-BiotechNews via SeedQuest.com
20 July 2005
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2.03 Proceedings of FAO Rice
Conference
Rome, Italy
As part of the International Year of Rice,
FAO organised the International Rice Conference
on 12-13 February 2004 in Rome, Italy.
The main theme of the second day
was "Sustainable rice-based production systems: Challenges and opportunities".
The International Rice Commission (IRC) has now published the 12 papers
from this session (including e.g. "Potentials and limitations of biotechnology
in rice" by R. Coffman, S.R. McCouch and R.W. Herdt), plus an introductory
Overview section, as IRC Newsletter 53. The IRC works within the framework of
FAO and currently has 61 member countries.
See http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5682e/y5682e00.htm
or contact nguu.nguyen@fao.org for more
information.
Source: FAO-BiotechNews
via SeedQuest.com
20 July 2005
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2.04 Abiotic Stresses: Plant Resistance
Through Breeding and Molecular Approaches
Edited by Muhammad Ashraf,
BSc, MSc, PhD
Professor and Head, Department of Botany, University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Philip John Charles Harris, BSc, PhD,
CBiol, FIBiol
Professor of Plant Science, School of Science and the
Environment, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
2005, Haworth
Press
Abiotic Stresses explores innovative methods for breeding
new varieties of major crops with resistance to environmental stresses that
limit crop production worldwide. Experts provide you with basic principles and
techniques of plant breeding as well as work done in relation to improving
resistance in specific important world food crops. This book supplies extensive
bibliographies at the end of each chapter, as well as tables and figures that
illustrate the research findings.
Abiotic Stresses is divided
into two sections. In the first section, you will find:
-the general
principles of breeding crops for stress resistance
-genetic engineering and
molecular biology procedures for crop improvement for stress
environments
-data on genome mapping and its implications for improving
stress resistance in plants
-information about breeding for
resistance/tolerance to salinity, drought, flooding, metals, low nutrient
availability, high/low temperatures
The second section of this timely
resource focuses on the efforts of acknowledged specialists who concentrated
their efforts on important individual crops, such as:
-wheat
-barley
-rice
-maize
-oilseed
crops
-cotton
-tomato
This book fills a niche and interface in the
available literature as it deals with all of the major stresses from a
perspective of crop breeding, covering the latest advances in molecular breeding
technology. Abiotic Stresses will help scientists and academics in botany, plant
breeding, plant environmental stress studies, agriculture, and horticulture
modify and improve breeding programs globally.
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2.05 Hybrid Vegetable
Development
Haworth Press, 2005.
Edited by P. K. Singh, PhD,
MSc
Research Officer, Sungro Seeds Limited, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi, India
S.
K. Dasgupta, PhD, MSc
Senior Research Officer, Sungro Seeds Limited, Shalimar
Bagh, Delhi, India
S. K. Tripathi, PhD, MSc
General Manager Research and
Development, Sungro Seeds Limited, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi, India
Discover
the latest concepts in breeding and development of hybrid vegetables with Hybrid
Vegetable Development. Respected authorities share their views on the most
recent trends and the techniques used for hybrid vegetable development in
various vegetable crops. This one book could become your comprehensive source
for all aspects of breeding, development, and seed production.
Hybrid
Vegetable Development provides a huge volume of background information on
eighteen of the most important world vegetable crops, including tomato,
eggplant, hot pepper, bell pepper, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, garden
pea, and melons. Packed with helpful illustrations, diagrams, and tables, this
book goes in-depth into hybrid development mechanisms, crop/floral biology,
pollination control mechanisms genetics, breeding, and the exploitation of
hybrid seed production on a commercial scale.
Hybrid Vegetable
Development covers:
-crop biology
-heterosis
-pollination control
mechanisms
-hybrid seed production
-maintenance of inbred/pure
lines
-seed production of major vegetables
-detailed descriptions of the
mechanisms in hybrid vegetable development
-the status of transgenic
vegetables
Hybrid Vegetable Development is a valuable, comprehensive
resource for agriculture industry experts and professionals, professors, and
students.
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2.06 Flower Seeds: Biology and
Technology
Edited by Miller B. McDonald and Francis Y. Kwong
Oxford University Press
0851999069, hardback, 384 pages
Mar
2005
Description
This book has been
written to provide a unique, much-needed resource of information on the biology
and technology of flower seeds. The floral industry represents a significant
proportion of agricultural income in several developed countries, particularly
the U.S., Netherlands, and Japan. The diversity of flower seeds, as well as
their form, function and biology, has hitherto daunted the production of a
comprehensive treatment of the topic. However, in this volume, international
authorities from academia and industry have been sought together to provide a
comprehensive reference resource for both practitioners and students of seed
science and technology and of ornamental horticulture.
Product
Details
384 pages; 48 color plates, 30
halftones; 0-85199-906-9
About the Author(s)
Edited by Miller
B. McDonald, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio State
University, and Francis Y. Kwong, PanAmerican Seed Company, West
Chicago
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2.07 Plant Diversity and Evolution: Genotypic and Phenotypic Variation in Higher Plants
Edited by
Robert J. Henry
Oxford University Press
0851999042, hardback, 340 pages
Mar 2005, Out of Stock
Price: $120.00 (06)
Description
An understanding of plant diversity at both the
genome and phenome level is important for both biodiversity conservation and
plant breeding. Recent advances in genomics have also resulted in a growth of
the subject of plant functional genomics. This book brings these areas together,
by reviewing aspects of plant evolution as it relates to variation in plant
genomes and associated variations in plant phenomes. Topics covered include
chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes, reticulate evolution. Polyploidy,
population genetics within a species, the evolution of the flower, diversity in
plant cell walls and in secondary metabolism, and the importance of plant
diversity in ecology and agriculture. Contributors include leading authorities
from Europe, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.
Product
Details
340 pages; 47 line illus.; 0-85199-904-2
About the
Author(s)
Edited by Robert J. Henry, Centre for Plant Conservation
Genetics, Southern Cross University, Australia
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2.08 OECD - Consensus document on new
varieties of alfalfa and other temperate forage legumes
The OECD
Environment, Health and Safety Division has published the "Consensus document on
compositional considerations for new varieties of alfalfa and other temperate
forage legumes: Key feed nutrients, anti-nutrients and secondary plant
metabolites". It is number 13 in its Series on the Safety of Novel Foods and
Feeds. See http://appli1.oecd.org/olis/2005doc.nsf/linkto/env-jm-mono(2005)13
or contact ehscont@oecd.org for more information.
Source: Update 8-2005 of
FAO-BiotechNews
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2.09 Rice blast
proceedings
As part of a collaborative strategic research program
involving the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA - Africa Rice
Center), among others, a workshop on "Strategic characterisation of blast
pathogen diversity, key screening sites and host resistance" was held on 5 March
2003 in Accra, Ghana. Proceedings of the workshop, edited by Y. S , S.
Sreenivasaprasad and S.K. Nutsugah, are now available, entitled "Rice blast in
West Africa: Characterisation of pathogen diversity, key screening sites and
host resistance". It includes the workshop report, full papers covering various
presentations and useful appendices and "is intended to serve as a reference
manual for scientists involved in rice blast research and management in Africa,
particularly the West African region". Rice blast is an important disease caused
by a fungus and is one of the major constraints to rice production. See http://www.warda.cgiar.org/publications/Blast/index.htm
or contact warda@cgiar.org for more information. WARDA is one of the 15 research
centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research.
Source: Update 8-2005 of FAO-BiotechNews
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2.10 Projections about ag employment
opportunities
See the following web site for an attractive document
with the most recent CSREES projection about ag employment opportunities.
http://faeis.ahnrit.vt.edu/supplydemand/2005-2010/
Contributed
by Ann Marie Thro
CSREES/USDA
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=========================
3. WEB
RESOURCES
(None reported)
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========================
4 GRANTS
AVAILABLE
(None reported)
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========================
5. POSITION
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(None reported)
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===========================
6.
MEETINGS, COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
* 12-14 September 2005 Seeds and
Breeds for the 21st Century, at Iowa State University -- A
conference engaging diverse stakeholders interested in strengthening our public
plant and animal breeding capacity. http://www.agron.iastate.edu/seedsandbreeds
The
conference is announced by RAFI. It is a follow up to a meeting held in
2003 in Washington DC on the same subject. The proceedings of the 2003
meeting are on the web site at www.rafiusa.org. The contact
person is Laura Lauffer, 919 542 6067
* 12-16 September 2005: III
International Symposium on Cucurbits. Townsville, North QLD (Australia):
Info: Dr. Gordon Rogers, Horticultural Research and Development, PO Box 552
Sutherland NSW 2232, Australia. Phone: (61)295270826, Fax: (61)295443782, email:
gordon@ahr.com.au
*September and
October 2005. Workshops on cryopreservation in support of conservation of
European plant genetic resources. Organized by IPGRI (Rome, Italy) in
collaboration with the partners of the CRYMCEPT project. Sponsored by the
European Union Project mission.
The First Workshop will be hosted by the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), 12-22 September
2005.
The Second Workshop will be hosted by the Institut de recherch0our
le developpement (Montpellier, France), 10-21 October 2005.
Application
forms may be obtained from: Dr Ehsan Dulloo at e.dulloo@cgiar.org, or at http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/events/cryopreservation.htm.
Applications must be received by 31 March 2005.
Contributed by Kakoli
Ghosh
FAO-AGPS
Kakoli.Ghosh@fao.org
*24-28 September 2005.
Interdrought-II, Rome. This is the 2nd International Conference on
Integrated Approaches to Sustain and Improve Plant Production Under Drought
Stress. This meeting contains an important component of genetics and breeding.
Full information is now available on the conference web site at www.plantstress.com/id2
Contributed
by A. Blum
Chair, Interdrought-II
*18-22 October 2005. Fourth
International Food Legume Research Conference (IFLRC-IV) New Delhi.“Food
Legumes for Nutritional Security and Sustainable Agriculture,” Indian
Society of Genetics and Plant. Dr. M. C. KHARKWAL, Organising
Secretary. http://isgpb.com/others/announcement.htm
Contributed
byFred J. Muehlbauer
Washington State University
*28 October – 3
November 2005. The 23rd Biennial Meeting of the Bean Improvement Cooperative
(BIC) will be held in conjunction with the North American Pulse Improvement
Cooperative Meeting at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE. Local host Dr.
Ed. Kee. For more details, visit http://www.css.msu.edu/bic/Meetings.cfm
Contributed
by James D. Kelly, Michigan State University
* 18-21 April 2006: The
13th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference -- Breeding for
Success: Diversity in Action, Christchurch Convention Center in Christchurch,
New Zealand.
For more details, visit http://www.apbc.org.nz
*
2-6 July 2006, Udine (Italy): IX International Conference on Grape Genetics
and Breeding. Info: Prof. Enrico Peterlunger, Universit i Udine, Dip. di
Scienze Agrarie e Ambientale, Via delle Scienze 208, 33100 Udine, Italy. Phone:
(39)0432558629, Fax: (39)0432558603, email: peterlunger@uniud.it
* 23-28 July
2006. The 9th International Pollination Symposium will be hosted at Iowa
State University, in the Scheman Building, part of the Iowa State Center of the
Iowa State University campus. The Hotel at Gateway Center in Ames, Iowa
will be the headquarter hotel for conference attendees. The official theme of
the 2006 International Pollination Symposium in cooperation with Iowa State
University and the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural
Research Service (USDA-ARS) is: "Host-Pollinator Biology Relationships -
Diversity in Action"
For more information please visit www.ucs.iastate.edu/PlantBee
Submitted
by Jody Larson, symposium committee
Iowa State
University
jilarson@iastate.edu
* 13-19 August 2006: XXVII
International Horticultural Congress, Seoul (Korea) web: www.ihc2006.org
* 11-15
September 2006, San Remo (Italy): XXII International EUCARPIA Symposium
- Section Ornamentals: Breeding for Beauty. Info: Dr. Tito Shiva or
Dr. Antonio Mercuri, CRA Istituto Sperimentale per la Floricoltura, Corso degli
Inglesi 508, 18038 San Remo (IM), Italy. Phone: (39)0184694846, Fax:
(39)0184694856, email: a.mercuri@istflori.it web: www.istflori.it
* 1-5 December 2006: The First International Meeting on Cassava Plant
Breeding and Biotechnology, to be held in Brasilia, Brazil on the 1st-5th of
December 2006, will be sponsored by the International Society of Food,
Agriculture, and Environment of Helsinki, Finland. Its theme is Cassava
Improvement to Improve Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa and Northeastern
Brazil. Sessions during the meeting will tackle such topics as wild species and
landraces to enhance nutritional content, management of reproduction and
propagation systems, biotechnology tools and methods for breeding the crop, and
conservation of Manihot genetic resources. Proceedings will be published and
distributed in March 2007, and will contain all articles presented in the
meeting. For more details, email Dr. Nagib Nassar of the University of Brasilia
at nagnassa@rudah.com.br
or visit the meeting website at http://www.geneconserve.pro.br/meeting/.
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=======================
7. EDITOR'S NOTES
Plant Breeding News is an electronic forum for the
exchange of information and ideas about applied plant breeding and related
fields. It is published every four to six weeks throughout the year.
The
newsletter is managed by the editor and an advisory group consisting of Elcio
Guimaraes (elcio.guimaraes@fao.org), Margaret Smith (mes25@cornell.edu), and
Anne Marie Thro (athro@reeusda.gov). The editor will advise subscribers one to
two weeks ahead of each edition, in order to set deadlines for
contributions.
REVIEW PAST NEWSLETTERS ON THE WEB: Past issues of the
Plant Breeding Newsletter are now available on the web. The address is: http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGP/AGPC/doc/services/pbn.html Please note that you may have to copy and paste this address to
your web browser, since the link can be corrupted in some e-mail
applications. We will continue to improve the organization of archival
issues of the newsletter. Readers who have suggestions about features they wish
to see should contact the editor at chh23@cornell.edu.
Subscribers are
encouraged to take an active part in making the newsletter a useful
communications tool. Contributions may be in such areas as: technical
communications on key plant breeding issues; announcements of meetings, courses
and electronic conferences; book announcements and reviews; web sites of special
relevance to plant breeding; announcements of funding opportunities; requests to
other readers for information and collaboration; and feature articles or
discussion issues brought by subscribers. Suggestions on format and content are
always welcome by the editor, at pbn-l@mailserv.fao.org. We would especially
like to see a broad participation from developing country programs and from
those working on species outside the major food crops.
Messages with
attached files are not distributed on PBN-L for two important reasons. The first
is that computer viruses and worms can be distributed in this manner. The second
reason is that attached files cause problems for some e-mail
systems.
PLEASE NOTE: Every month many newsletters are returned because
they are undeliverable, for any one of a number of reasons. We try to keep the
mailing list up to date, and also to avoid deleting addresses that are only
temporarily inaccessible. If you miss a newsletter, write to me at
chh23@cornell.edu and I will re-send it.
To subscribe to PBN-L: Send an
e-mail message to: mailserv@mailserv.fao.org. Leave the subject line blank and
write SUBSCRIBE PBN-L (Important: use ALL CAPS). To unsubscribe: Send an e-mail
message as above with the message UNSUBSCRIBE PBN-L. Lists of potential new
subscribers are welcome. The editor will contact these persons; no one will be
subscribed without their explicit permission.
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