PLANT
BREEDING NEWS
EDITION 226
31 July 2011
An Electronic Newsletter of Applied Plant Breeding
Clair H. Hershey, Editor
Sponsored by GIPB, FAO/AGP and Cornell
University’s Department of
Plant Breeding and Genetics
-To subscribe, see
instructions here
-Archived issues
available at: FAO Plant
Breeding Newsletter
1. NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.01 Double grain
yields may be doable
1.02 Strategies to
“freeze the foodprint of food”
1.03 Plan to one day
end the use of environmentally harmful chemicals on commercial crops developed
1.04 Nurturing a
rare breed
1.05 International Rice Research Institute announces new head of plant
breeding
1.06 Dr. Eufemio T. Rasco Jr. appointed as the new executive director of the
Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute
1.07 UPDATE:
National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) Meeting
1.08 Improving wheat yields for global food security
1.09 Project aims to
double yields of Nigeria’s major staples
1.10 ‘High vigour’ wheats
impress in field trials
1.11 Resistant wheats and Ethiopian farmers battle deadly fungus
1.12 Countering
drought in Machakos, Kenya
1.13 Malawi farmers benefit from improved groundnut varieties
1.14 China to fully conduct “31511” super rice project during the 12th
Five-Year Plan period
1.15 Mozambique gets new designer rice
1.16 Meeting on Global Food
Research in Wageningen
1.17 Organic plant breeding yields healthy diversity
1.18 GEAC mandates prior state govt okay
1.19 USDA/APHIS
reopens comment period for draft environmental assessment for drought tolerant
corn
1.20 The Global Plant Council Forges Ahead
1.21 Adoption of genetically engineered crops in
the U.S.
1.22 Genetically modifying wheat for healthier bread
1.23 European Parliament backs national right to to ban or restrict the
cultivation of genetically modified crops
1.24 Voluntary guidelines to allow for labelling of
world’s genetically modified foods
1.25 ISAAA presents the first five Biotech Country Facts and Trends
1.26 Chinese Academy of Sciences scientist reports advances
in development of GM herbicide resistant hybrid rice in China
1.27 Herbicide resistance, weeds are spreading in the
United States
1.28
Propiedad Intelectual indispensable para una agricultura competitive
1.29 Embrapa apresenta coleçăo nuclear de feijăo comum
1.30 Improving peanut crops through genetics and core collections
1.31 Species affected by climate change: to shift or not to shift?
1.32 Chance discovery of a genetic mutation in wild barley leads to an
international study deciphering evolution of life on land
1.33 Adapting crops and ‘natives’ to a changing climate
1.34 Gene discovery in wild barley may lead to stress tolerant crops
1.35 Designer roots to counter drought
1.36 Doubled haploid bread wheat engineered for drought tolerance
1.37 Resistant varieties make the difference between having enough to eat – or
not
1.38 “Chalky” discovery could
increase value of rice by 25%
1.39 Barley defense
system against powedery mildew
1.40 Improving food safety of potato varieties
1.41 Scientists identify
maize proteins causing aflatoxin production
1.42 University of Queensland plant biologists identify a hormone that plays a
key role in determining the size and shape of plants
1.43 Turbocharging a new Green Revolution with improvements in photosynthesis
1.44 Potato genome sequence is the cover story in the journal Nature
1.45 Simple little spud helps
scientists crack potato's mighty genome
1.46 Penn State University's corn geneticist gets $1.2 million grant
from the National Science Foundation for gene research
1.47 Plant immunity discovery boosts chances of disease-resistant crops
1.48 Breeding procedure accelerates winter wheat development
1.49 Chinese scientists isolate a multi-stress responsive gene
1.50 Doubled haploid technology brings promise to wheat breeders
1.51 Evolution and domestication of seed structure shown to use same genetic
mutation
1.52 Editing the genome - Scientists unveil new tools for rewriting the code
of life
2.01 Seed Biotechnology, UCD Annual Report now available
2.02 New Books
released at the Brazilian Plant Breeding Congress
3.
3.01 International knowledge
hub to link climate change and food security research
3.02 Potential of agricultural technologies survey
3.03 The Bitter Gourd Project opens a website to provide news and information about
this valuable vegetable
3.04 Biotechnology for Sustainability
3.05 Wheat Atlas – a hub for wheat data sharing
4.01 Fellowships: Contemporary approaches to genetic resources
conservation and use’ in the context of climate change
4.02 Deadline for fellowship application to the Netherlands Fellowship Programme is OCTOBER 1st, 2011
4.03 Bayer CropScience
announces scholarship for training in European Plant Breeding AcademySM
with University of California
5.01 Junior Professor (W1) for “Plant Genomics and Plant Breeding in the
Tropics and Subtropics”
5.02 Manager Crop Development / Crop Development Specialist
6. MEETINGS, COURSES
7. EDITOR
1 NEWS,
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.01 Double
grain yields may be doable
By Steve
Jordon
WORLD-HERALD
STAFF WRITER
KANSAS
CITY, Mo. — The world's farmers will need to double grain yields by 2030 to
meet world food demand, but that's not an impossible task even for the highly
developed U.S. food industry, experts said Tuesday at a conference on global
agriculture.
"It's
certainly within the historical norms," said David Fischhoff, vice
president for technology at Monsanto Co., a panelist at a symposium sponsored
by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City that was attended by about 200
people.
Fischhoff
said farmers have doubled grain yields since the 1970s, achieving an average
corn crop of about 150 bushels per acre. That will need to reach 300 bushels
within 20 years.
Meeting
that goal will require a combination of factors, he said, including:
» Plant
breeding that, among other things, will let farmers not only raise more grain
but also increase the rate of that increase from year to year. Genetic
improvements can double that rate, he said. "We're well on our way to achieving
that goal."
» Improved
farming practices, such as planting more corn stalks per acre and more
precisely matching hybrid varieties to soil. Typical fields now hold about
30,000 corn plants per acre; that could be increased to at least 40,000.
» Advances
in biotechnology that go beyond plants that tolerate herbicides or repel
certain insects. "This is really just the beginning of this era."
A video
message from Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said meeting food demand has
implications beyond hunger.
"A well-fed
world is a much safer and stable place," Roberts said. "That in turn
leads to economic stability, economic growth and peace." Hungry people, by
contrast, can move toward "discontent, instability and, yes, even
extremism."
Food demand
is increasing because of a growing world population and improvements in the
standard of living of people in developing countries, said Joseph Glauber,
chief economist for the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Glauber
projected that U.S. meat exports, for example, will continue to increase as
people in developing countries add more beef and pork to their diets. Between
1960 and 1969, he said, U.S. farmers exported 1 percent of their beef and 3.35
percent of their pork.
That has
grown to 11.8 percent of beef and 29.1 percent of pork in the latest decade,
and Glauber expects that to increase to 10 percent for beef and 22 percent for
pork.
"We're
exporting a much, much higher-quality product," he said.
China's
economic growth is pushing much of that increase and shows little sign of
letting up, he said, and the weak U.S. dollar in relation to other currencies
has made U.S. crops cheaper on world markets. China buys about 60 percent of
the world's soybean exports.
Farm
exports resulted in a $44 billion trade surplus in 2010-11, Glauber said, which
is a record dollar amount and the second-highest year ever when adjusted for
inflation. "This is certainly a bright spot in the overall U.S. trade
picture."
Glauber
said world supplies of grain are tight and consumption is growing — 2 percent a
year for wheat and 4.4 percent a year for soybeans. That indicates that the
current, relatively high prices for grain are likely to continue, he said.
Some of the
increased future production could come from using the 32 million acres of farm
land that is now held in a federal reserve program. Glauber said a challenge
will be to bring the most productive land back into production while leaving
environmentally sensitive land in the reserve program.
Contact the
writer: 402-444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com, twitter.com/buffettOWH
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110720/MONEY/707209921/0
Source:
SeedQuest.com
++++++++++++++++++++++
1.02 Strategies to "freeze the foodprint
of food"
July 29,
2011
In an
article Freeze the foodprint of food published in Nature journal, Jason Clay of
WWF identifies eight strategies that could enable farming to address issues
concerning a growing global population amidst higher consumption and shrinking
production land.
"If
applied globally and simultaneously, (the strategies) will help to reform the
food system and protect the planet," Clay explained. Among the strategies
are the following:
- Genetics
– Use the potential of genetics in traditional plant breeding as well as new modern technologies.
- Better
practices – Improve the poorest-performing producers to enhance food
production, increase income, and reduce environmental impacts.
- Efficiency
through technology – Double the efficiency of every agricultural input,
including water, fertilizer, pesticides, energy, and infrastructure.
- Degraded
land – Rehabilitate abandoned or underperforming lands.
- "If
we cannot double the genetic potential of the 10–15 main calorie crops, on
the same amount of land, we will fail to meet rising demand. NGOs and academics
do not control the global food system, so instead they must try to change
how governments and the private sector think about food production,"
Clay concluded.
Subscribers
can view the article at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7356/full/475287a.html.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19436&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.03 Plan to one day end the use of
environmentally harmful chemicals on commercial crops developed
Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada
July 21,
2011
Researchers
have published a step by step plan to one day end the use of environmentally
harmful chemicals on commercial crops by developing plants that produce their
own fertilizer
Two
University of Alberta researchers have published a step by step plan to one-day
end the use of environmentally harmful chemicals on commercial crops by
developing plants that produce their own fertilizer.
U of A
plant biologist Allen Good says the energy required to produce nitrogen
fertilizers has pushed the world-wide cost for agricultural producers to a $100
billion a year. Good says that while they are necessary for high yields, those
nitrogen fertilizers also damage the environment. Emissions from nitrogen
fertilizers add to greenhouse gas emissions and chemical run-off from farm
fields cause algae blooms in fresh water lakes and rivers. Good says the cost
of cleaning up the environment adds another $50 billion to the world-wide cost
of commercial agriculture fertilizers.
Good and
his U of A co-author Perrin Beatty says some plants, like peas, have the
natural ability to split atoms of nitrogen gas and use the bioactive elements
that enhance growth. Mass produced and consumed cereal crops like wheat, rice
and maize cannot naturally split nitrogen atoms and need commercial
fertilizers. Fertilizer producers use huge amounts of natural gas to to split
nitrogen atoms to supply its bioactive components that are then spread on
fields in the form of a chemical .
Good and
his U of A co-author Perrin Beatty say the fix is to genetically alter
agricultural products like cereal crops so they can process nitrogen from the
atmosphere naturally and still get the same growth enhancing effect as
commercial fertilizers.
Good and
Beatty have published their perspective on Future Prospects for Cereals That
Fix Nitrogen in the journal Science. The paper will be published by Science on Friday,
22 July 2011.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19227&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: Source:
University of Alberta via EurAlert! Via SeedQuest.com
++++++++++++++++++++++
1.04 Nurturing a
rare breed
UC Davis
plant breeding education expands to meet global need.
For his doctoral studies, Iago Lowe researched
genetic resistance to stripe rust, a fungal disease that has plagued wheat
growers for centuries. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)
By Diane
Nelson
While
working in Tanzania on community development projects several years ago, Iago
Lowe came to two life-changing conclusions:
Food
security is central to projects that make a lasting difference in people's
well-being. It ensures that communities have the seeds, soil, water and
environment to produce enough to eat.
His
bachelor's degree in physics and religion from Dartmouth College did not
adequately prepare him to spearhead those kinds of projects.
To address
that gap in his ability to "make some small difference in the world,"
Lowe started doctoral studies at UC Davis in 2007 in plant breeding and
genetics.
"There
are so many needs in developing nations — for schools, roads, water, other
infrastructure — but when the money and people leave, so often the projects
die," Lowe said. "The few projects I saw that continued to thrive,
that really made a tangible difference in people's lives, almost always dealt
with local food security, seed systems, soil and water conservation and
ecological restoration — projects that demanded a set of skills I didn't have.
I'm now nearing the end of my time studying plant breeding at UC Davis and
that's no longer the case."
Lowe
exemplifies a new breed of plant breeders at UC Davis. Long a global leader in
plant breeding, UC Davis has been retooling its programs — offering new
training, creating new curriculum, hiring new faculty (as the budget allows)
and conducting world-class research to meet a growing demand for new crops and
for breeders.
The new
generation of scientists that those programs will produce — and their research
breakthroughs — can't come soon enough for industry, government and
philanthropic foundation leaders who say that a shortage of plant breeders is
hampering efforts to alleviate hunger around the world. Hundreds of high-paying
industry jobs for plant breeders are going unfilled.
"Plant
breeding is such a vital tool for helping us deal with significant challenges
in the 21st century such as food security, population increase, urbanization,
and water and energy shortages," said Xingping Zhang, a watermelon breeder
with the Davis-based seed company Syngenta. "Who is going to educate the
plant breeders? UC Davis is in a perfect position to do so because it's a great
center of science and technological inventions, located right in the heart of
agricultural abundance. No place in the world offers the diversity of crops
[like those] grown in California."
In another
major nod to UC Davis expertise, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $40
million in grants earlier this year to develop climate-change-tolerant plants
and new bioenergy sources. UC Davis scientists will lead two research teams
from more than 50 universities in more than 20 states.
"Each
of these projects features transdisciplinary, regional, integrated teams,
including scientists from institutions that represent underserved
populations," said Roger Beachy, director of the USDA's National Institute
of Food and Agriculture, in announcing the grants at UC Davis. "This
approach represents a new paradigm in how USDA science can best solve critical
issues facing agriculture today."
A century
of breeding
Since
opening its doors in 1908, UC Davis has helped develop and manage many of the
more than 250 crops now grown in California.
Best of
Breed
To see
plant breeding in action, watch strawberries grow at the 200-acre UC South
Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine, where the winters are mild, the
summers are warm and the coastal breezes are lovely.
The impact
of UC Davis crop science is found on farms and nurseries throughout the state.
Take walnuts, for instance. Virtually all the walnut varieties sold in
California nurseries are UC Davis varieties. One variety — Chandler, with its
mid-season leafing and light, golden kernels — accounts for 90 percent of all
nursery sales of walnuts. Year-round strawberry production is another example
[see "Best of Breed," page 29].
Beyond
this, UC Davis research and its graduates helped nurture a fruit boom in Chile
and other parts of the world. Most of those crops were developed by traditional
selective breeding methods.
However,
classical plant breeding programs have withered at UC Davis and other
universities in recent decades, as the life sciences underwent a revolution and
faculty and student researchers turned their focus from developing new plant
varieties to understanding the molecular, cellular and genetic underpinnings of
plant life.
UC Davis
continues to support breeding programs for grapes, peaches, almonds, walnuts,
prunes, strawberries, peppers, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, rice and wheat — but
in different ways than before.
With some
of those crops, like lettuce, researchers no longer develop and release new
varieties into the public domain. Rather, they focus on the molecular side of
the breeding spectrum, identifying genes likely to control important traits and
releasing the corresponding germplasm, or living tissue, which can by used by
industry and others to develop new varieties.
With highly
competitive crops like corn, vegetables and flowers, where new varieties can
reap big dividends — the business of releasing new ones has moved to the
private sector. Industry looks to UC researchers to help solve problems but not
compete with them in the marketplace.
"Our
plant breeding programs are science driven," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of
the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "That's what
distinguishes our program and puts us at the forefront of helping solve
critical agricultural, biological and environmental issues worldwide."
Van Alfen
said UC researchers allow both public and private breeders to keep up with
advances in plant science.
Adapting
plants for climate change
The two
USDA-funded research projects, in particular, showcase how advances in
molecular breeding techniques have revolutionized plant breeding.
Wheat
geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky
(Karin
Higgins/UC Davis)
One team,
headed by wheat geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky, received $25 million to identify
variations in wheat and barley genes that can enhance the ability of the plants
to resist disease, make efficient use of water and nitrogen, and optimize crop
yield. These discoveries will help plant breeders develop varieties of wheat
and barley that will thrive and be productive despite anticipated climate
variability.
Forest tree
geneticist David Neale received $14.6 million to head a team — which includes
Charles Langley, professor of genetics in the College of Biological Sciences —
to sequence the genomes of loblolly pine, sugar pine and Douglas fir. This is a
particularly ambitious project because the genomes of pine tree species are
huge — as much as 10 times the size of the human genome. The researchers hope
to accelerate breeding efforts for fast-growing varieties of these trees —
enhancing their use as feedstocks for biofuels and contributing to carbon
sequestration, capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, thus
mitigating the effects of climate change.
Need for
field training
The grants
also illustrate another important point in today's plant science education:
Funding is ample for plant biology, genetics and biotechnology, but not for
field training. As a result, colleges and universities have invested in faculty
on the basic-science side, and less on the applied side. Therefore, fewer
students are being trained to set up a field experiment and develop new
varieties, and fewer fully trained breeders are entering the job market.
Allen Van
Deynze, a professional researcher with the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center,
said UC Davis and other universities made a mistake in not replacing breeders
as they retired. "All the biotechnological advances don't mean much if you
don't have people who know how to develop varieties."
Chris van
Kessel — a professor, agronomist and chair of the Department of Plant Sciences,
explained it like this: "Plant breeding refers to a wide set of skills,
from basic to applied science, and we're not as strong as we once were on the
applied side. Why does that matter? Let's say you're looking for a wheat
variety with stripe-rust resistance. Using advanced molecular tools, you find a
gene of interest . . . But until you make your crosses — grow the plants in the
field — you don't really know what you have. Did you make the plant especially
susceptible to another disease? Or did you affect yield? . . . And knowing how
to set up those test plots requires a very specialized set of skills."
Scientists
have begun spelling out the need for field-trained plant breeders in their
grant applications. Dubcovsky's team, for example, will spend one-third of its
$25 million USDA grant to develop a Plant Breeding Education Network to train
30 new doctoral students in plant breeding and provide educational
opportunities for 100 undergraduate students interested in plant improvement.
The Seed
Biotechnology Center is also helping to fill the gap by training professionals
in its Plant Breeding Academy, which has grown into a thriving resource for
trained plant breeders worldwide. Now offered in Europe as well, the academy is
modeled on professional M.B.A. programs that allow participants to continue in
their current jobs. Students meet for three six-day weeks each year for two
years in small hands-on classes.
"Most
of our students are working in the field, doing plant breeding, but they don't
yet have the training to set up their own programs and trials," Van Deynze
said. "In the academy, they develop a deeper knowledge of genetics,
statistics and breeding theory so they can direct their own breeding
programs."
Academy
graduates earn a UC Certificate of Completion, not a degree. The program
doesn't replace the need for plant breeding faculty, researchers and
curriculum, Van Deynze said. "It's complementary," he explained.
"The [Plant Breeding Academy] is more geared toward advancing within
industry, not for academic research."
Four
classes — a total of 66 people — have either graduated from or are current
students in the academy. The Center also offers short courses on seed biology,
production, quality and breeding with molecular markers.
A new breed
Plant
breeding education at UC Davis involves many disciplines — plant biology,
computer science, entomology, plant pathology and nutrition, quantitative
genetics, to name a few. Graduates can focus on ecology, genetics, horticulture
and agronomy and plant biology — and even then their course loads incorporate
the full array of disciplines.
Lowe, the
graduate student, is working to identify and characterize genetic sources of
resistance to stripe rust, a fungal disease that has plagued wheat growers for
centuries, and destroyed billions of bushels of wheat. In some parts of the
world, wheat is the major source of protein — people can go hungry when a rust
epidemic strikes.
Working
with Dubscovky, Lowe has identified stripe rust resistance genes that are now
being introduced into elite California wheat varieties. They may eventually
contribute to the long-term development of more stripe-rust resistant wheat.
"What
is especially appealing about working in a public research and breeding program
is that our results are made available to breeders everywhere, to expand on and
use as they see fit," Lowe said.
Wisconsin
native Shelby Repinski came to UC Davis in 2006 to pursue a doctorate in plant
breeding and genetics. "Plant breeding gives me a way to apply my love of
genetics, statistics and plants. Science can be so abstract. In the lab, it's
just a hypothesis — this gene controls this trait. When you take that
hypothesis into the field, you can test it; see how the components interact
with weather conditions, the pH of the soil, etc. You're dealing with the whole
plant, and I just love that link between the basic and applied side of
science."
Students
also learn the importance of genetic diversity to plant breeding, a lesson that
can take them all over the world searching for wild and domesticated ancestors
of our modern crops. In order to develop high-quality crops that can resist
constantly evolving pests, diseases and environmental stresses, plant breeders
need genetic diversity in germplasm, the living tissue from which new plants
can be grown.
Sexually
compatible wild species and landraces — ancestral varieties of crop species —
are the keys to genetic diversity, but the amount of land where plants grow
wild continues to shrink and many plant species and varieties are disappearing.
That's why the plant science community has developed conservation programs to
gather, preserve, catalogue and distribute germplasm to researchers and
breeders around the world.
Repinski
traveled to Mexico with plant sciences professor Paul Gepts to collect wild
bean plants. She also took advantage of one of the many plant breeding
internships available to UC Davis students at area industries. She worked on
drought-tolerance in corn for Monsanto in Woodland.
"I
learned pollination techniques, phenotyping and many other things — [and
discovered] that I can work in a field all day and be happy," she said.
Repinski
applauded UC Davis' renewed plant breeding efforts. "Plant breeding is
becoming a more popular field of study," she said. "More and more
students are gravitating to it because it has so many uses. It can help all of
humanity."
Learn more:
UC Davis
plant breeding education
Seed
Biotechnology Center videos on
plant breeding
http://ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu/issues/su11/plant_breeding.html
Source: SeedQuest.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++
1.05 International Rice Research
Institute announces new head of plant breeding
The
Philippines
July 19,
2011
After a
global search, IRRI is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Eero A. J.
Nissilä as its Head of Plant
Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology (PBGB) and leader of GRISP Theme 2: Accelerating the
development, delivery, and adoption of improved rice varieties.
Eero hails
from Finland where he started his career in the mid 1980s as a research
assistant for the Agricultural Research Centre of Finland.
By 1990, he
had his M.Sc. in Plant Breeding at the University of Helsinki. He then went
onto complete his doctoral degree in Agriculture and Forestry (Plant Breeding)
at the same University with his thesis: ‘Relationships between phenotype and
genotype-environment interactions and their influence on yield in highly
adapted barley germplasm’.
For about
the last ten years, Eero has been working as the Director of Breeding
Programmes at Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd., while concurrently undertaking
lecturing at the University of Helsinki, Department of Applied Biology / Plant
Breeding. Prior to this, he worked as an Associate Scientist in International
Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) in Malaysia and Italy; and as a
barley breeder, also at Boreal Plant Breeding Ltd.
Eero is due
to start work at IRRI in late September 2011 and will provide strategic and
operational leadership on all aspects of rice varietal improvement research in
IRRI. Dr. Achim Dobermann, IRRI’s deputy director general for research, said
that “Dr. Nissilä will provide leadership for transforming rice breeding
programs towards more targeted product development, which will allow us to
develop new rice varieties faster and more efficiently through applying new
breeding strategies and tools”.
As the
global leader for GRISP Theme 2 and in collaboration with others, he will
provide the overall leadership for accelerating the development of new rice
varieties and hybrids in all major rice-growing environments, with a particular
emphasis on new, targeted product development pipelines that utilize molecular
breeding approaches and networks. He will also be responsible for implementing
these breeding programs in Asia, including overseeing all staff and other
resources in IRRI’s Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology (PBGB) Division.
“For a
lifetime breeder to work at IRRI with a global plant breeding activity is a
once in a lifetime job opportunity,” Dr. Nissilä said. “I find it particularly
interesting to work in a cross-cultural environment and with local and
international top experts coming from various countries. IRRI’s overall targets
and values motivate me heavily – especially with the global scene in which
plant breeding will probably, more than ever, have an importance in feeding the
global population.”
“After
being in business-driven private breeding for most of my career to date,” he
added, “I believe that at IRRI we can exploit much of the strategic targeting
approaches used in commercial product-driven breeding programmes as well as
ways to integrate new breeding technologies and methods into breeding”.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19124&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++
1.06 Dr. Eufemio T. Rasco Jr. appointed as the
new executive director of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice
Research Institute
The
Philippines
July 21,
2011
President
Benigno S. Aquino III has appointed Dr. Eufemio T. Rasco Jr (photo, right), a
plant breeder and academician, as the new executive director of the Department
of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice), July 4, vice
Atty. Ronilo A. Beronio (photo, left).
Agriculture
Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, on the other hand, swore him into office on July
13. Rasco said, during the turnover ceremony for PhilRice chief today, that
Alcala directed him to ensure PhilRice’s strong support to the Aquino
Administration’s goal of rice self-sufficiency by 2013, particularly in the supply
of high quality seeds and in developing and adapting technologies for upland
rice farming.
Rasco is a
recipient of a number of awards from prestigious organizations, such as the
National Academy of Science and Technology and the Philippine Jaycees for his
contributions in plant breeding and agricultural education.
He has
worked with various institutions, such as the University of the Philippines
Mindanao as professor and dean, International Potato Center as coordinating
scientist, Institute of Plant Breeding as director, and East-West Seed Company
as founding director and member of the board. In these institutions, he
conducted comprehensive research on vegetables, potato and sweet potato,
underused crops, slope farming, and modern agriculture’s sustainability. He has
internationally acclaimed papers and books, and has crafted a general education
course on plant biotechnology, the first in the Philippines.
Rasco is a
magna cum laude agriculture graduate of the University of the Philippine Los
Bańos and has a doctorate degree in plant breeding from Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York, USA.
DA-PhilRice
is a government-owned and –controlled corporation that aims at developing
high-yielding, cost-reducing, and environment-friendly technologies so farmers can
produce enough rice for all Filipinos.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19205&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++
1.07 UPDATE: National Association of Plant
Breeders (NAPB) Meeting
As the
chair of Communications committee, Allen Van Deynze attended the NAPB annual
meeting at Texas A&M on May 23, 2011. The NAPB is partnering with SeedWorld
(www.seedworld.com) to highlight the importance of plant breeding in
our society. Look for monthly stories, interviews and videos in SeedWorld and
on the NAPB website (www.plantbreeding.org). Allen was also elected vice chair of
the Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee. For a press release of events please
see www.plantbreeding.org
1.08 Improving
wheat yields for global food security
Australia
July 25,
2011
With the
world’s population set to reach 8.9 billion by 2050, CSIRO scientists are
hunting down and exploiting a number of wheat’s key genetic traits in a bid to
substantially boost its grain yield.
The rate of
wheat-yield improvement achievable through conventional plant breeding and
genetic engineering alone is not fast enough to compete with a rapidly growing
global population, changing climates and decreasing water availability in the
battle for accessible and affordable food and fuel.
“To avert
future food security catastrophes we must accelerate the rate of wheat yield improvement,”
says the leader of a CSIRO wheat research team dedicated to crop adaptation and
improvement, Dr Richard Richards.
“Scientists
need to quickly identify the traits and management practices responsible for
capturing key resources such as light, water and nutrients, and converting them
to grain.”
Locating
genes of agricultural importance within the complex wheat genome is challenging
but possible using new high-tech equipment such as that being developed by the
High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre (HRPPC) in Canberra.
CSIRO’s Dr
Richard Poiré is studying Brachypodium – a type of grass similar in many ways
to wheat – at the HRPPC to identify the function and location of the genes
responsible for important traits such as shoot growth, biomass accumulation,
photosynthesis and root growth.
By studying
a model plant and applying the findings to cereals, scientists can accelerate
the breeding of next-generation food and biofuel crops.
Another
member of the team, Dr Anton Wasson, is investigating root growth in Australian
and Indian wheat crops.
His aim is
to identify new wheat varieties with faster-growing, deeper root systems that
can capture more water during flowering and grain development.
If
successful, the research will enable wheat breeders to produce improved
varieties for the water-limited environments of both Australia and India.
CSIRO
scientists investigating food security will be presenting their research at the
18th International Botanical Congress being held in Melbourne this week 23-30
July 2011.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19277&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++
1.09 Project aims to double yields of
Nigeria’s major staples
Ibadan,
Nigeria
July 22,
2011
Scientists
at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture are working with
national partners to double yields of Nigeria’s major stables, thanks to the
Africa Development Bank (AfDB)-funded Community-Based Agriculture and Rural
Development Project.
The
project, which involves active participation of farmers across five states,
will deploy best agronomic practices and improved varieties to the fields,
according to Dr. Sam Ajala, IITA Maize Breeder.
“It will
focus on showcasing production technologies that can double yield in-situ with
the hope that farmers will pick up from there,” he adds.
In spite of
several innovations developed to spur yield, resource-poor farmers who dominate
the agricultural landscape have limited access to these technologies.
Consequently,
this has negatively affected the productivity and fortunes of the country’s
agriculture—a sector that employs more than 70 per cent of people in the rural
areas.
A project
to double maize in Nigeria that was implemented by IITA, whose first phase
ended in 2009, had maize yield on participating farmers’ field rising from 1.5
tons per hectare to 4.2 t/ha.
“The
project demonstrated that with the right technologies deployed to farmers
backed by good agronomic practices, farmers could increase yield.”
Scientists
will be leveraging on lessons learnt from the Doubling Maize project to
increase productivity
The
implementation plan for the five states namely Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Kaduna
and Kwara involve maize, cowpeas, soybean, cassava and yam.
However,
yams and cassava are intended for only Kaduna and Kwara States, according to
National Coordinator of the Project, Dr. Arabi Mohammed.
National
partners in the project include the Institute of Agricultural Research of
Ahmadu Bello University (IAR/ABU), the National Cereal Research Institute
(NCRI), University of Ilorin, and the National Agricultural Extension and
Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) of the ABU. The National Root Crop Research
Institute (NRCRI) at Umudike will collaborate on yam miniset technology.
Researchers
are optimistic that the project will benefit from other projects such as the
Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Doubling Maize Project in Nigeria,
Tropical Legume II, Nitrogen for Africa (N2Africa) project, Striga Control
Project among others.
The
involvement of IITA and its partners will complement that of the participating
State Agricultural Development Programs whose mandate is to promote
agricultural technologies for optimum productivity.
“It is
expected that these linkages with other projects will provide the needed
synergy that will create the maximum impact,” Ajala adds.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19251&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.10 ‘High vigour’ wheats impress in field
trials
Australia
July 28,
2011
Significant
progress has been made in the development of a new weed management tool – wheat
with superior competitiveness.
Highly
vigorous wheat lines have been developed which can produce up to double the
biomass of commonly grown varieties by the early tillering stage, effectively
shading out weeds.
Increased
root growth also enables the wheat to out-compete weeds for water and
nutrients.
The lines
have been produced by the University of Adelaide, in collaboration with CSIRO
Plant Industry, under a Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)
funded project.
In Western
Australian and South Australian field trials the competitive wheat lines
suppressed weeds while producing grain yields comparable to or better than
those produced from commonly grown varieties.
It is
proposed these wheat lines – which could help give growers the option of
keeping weedy paddocks in crop - will be provided to Australian wheat breeding
programs to include in germplasm development.
Department
of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) researcher Peter Newman, who is testing three
of the lines in WA as part of GRDC-funded integrated weed management research,
is excited at the potential for another non-herbicide weed control option.
“These competitive wheat cultivars are capable
of reducing ryegrass seed set by up to 50 per cent compared with existing
commercial wheat varieties – that is almost as effective as using a chaff
cart,” he said.
“Due to increasing herbicide resistance, it is
important for growers to use more non-herbicide options to control weeds and
there is significant potential for crop competition to be better utilised for
weed control.
“WA farmers are accustomed to weeds dominating
in their paddocks as they currently grow uncompetitive crop varieties at wide
row spacings with low to moderate seed rates.
“The availability of competitive crop
varieties could help swamp out the weeds.”
Mr Newman
helped to test three competitive wheat lines at Eradu and Wongan Hills last
year.
The lines,
grown on yellow sandy soils, were compared with the commonly grown wheat
varieties Mace , Magenta and Wyalkatchem , and Baudin barley.
Mr Newman
said the WA trial sites were relatively weed free in 2010, making it difficult
to assess the weed suppressive ability of the competitive lines.
“However, the competitive lines yielded almost
as well as the other commercial lines and despite their big canopies, did not
fall over during the dry finish to the season,” he said.
“I believe this is due to their larger root
systems which can explore further into the soil for moisture.”
The best of
the competitive lines grown at Eradu yielded 3.4 tonnes per hectare, compared
with 3.5t/ha for Magenta , the top yielding commercial line.
At Wongan
Hills the best competitive line yielded 1.5t/ha, compared with 1.6t/ha for Mace
.
“In weed-free situations there is no
significant yield advantage from growing these competitive lines, but the big
advantage comes when they are grown in weedy paddocks,” Mr Newman said.
University
of Adelaide researcher Gurjeet Gill said that in South Australian field trials
where paddocks were weedier, the competitive wheat lines provided up to 50 per
cent better weed suppression (weed seed production) than commercial varieties
such as Wyalkatchem , while improving yields by up to 30 per cent.
Dr Gill,
who led the development of the competitive wheat lines, said in areas where
annual ryegrass was resistant to Group A and B herbicides, Australian wheat
crops treated with pre-emergent herbicides often had unacceptable levels of
weed seed set.
“The use of high early vigour and weed
suppressive varieties, in conjunction with other weed management tactics, could
enable farmers to keep weedy paddocks in crop if they wish to do so,” he said.
“Most of
our research has focussed on the suppression of annual ryegrass, as this is the
most problematic weed in southern and western grain growing areas of Australia.
“However, recent research results show that
wheat varieties with superior competitive ability against ryegrass also possess
superior competitive ability against other grass and broadleaf weeds.”
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19373&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.11 Resistant wheats and Ethiopian farmers battle
deadly fungus
When a
devastating stripe rust epidemic hit Ethiopia last year, newly-released wheat
varieties derived from international partnerships proved resistant to the
disease, and are now being multiplied for seed.
Normally,
Ethiopia has two distinct rainy seasons, one short and one main, allowing for
two wheat cropping cycles per year. However, 2010 saw persistent gentle rains
throughout the year, with prolonged dews and cool temperatures—perfect weather
for stripe rust. Most wheat varieties planted in Ethiopia were susceptible,
including the two most popular, Kubsa and Galema, so damage was severe.
Newly-released, resistant varieties provide a way out of danger. In particular,
two CIMMYT lines released in Ethiopia in 2010 proved resistant to stripe rust
in their target environments: Picaflor#1, which was released in Ethiopia as
Kakaba, and Danphe#1, released as Danda’a. Picaflor#1 is targeted to
environments where Kubsa is grown, and so has the potential to replace it, and
Danphe#1 could similarly replace Galema. Both varieties are also high-yielding
and resistant to Ug99.
Read more
at http://www.cimmyt.org/en/newsletter/511-2011/1008-resistant-wheats-and-ethiopian-farmers-battle-deadly-fungus
Source:
CIMMYT:
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.12 Countering
drought in Machakos, Kenya
This
growing season in south-central Kenya has been a good test for the new drought
tolerant maize varieties being bred in Africa. This is a semi-arid area, but
this year they can drop the semi. Farmers report only three short periods of
rain since the February planting time.
“Without
this seed, I’d have nothing. Nothing, like my neighbors,” says farmer Philip
Ngolania. He sweeps his hand to direct the eye first to his maize and then
toward a neighbor’s plot. Philip’s maize stalks, though looking thin and weak,
have fairly uniformly produced large ears of corn. His neighbor’s maize is
shriveled and dead, the stalks have toppled in their feebleness and there isn’t
a cob to be found. The neighbor – and many of the farmers in the area – planted
the traditional local maize called Mbembasitu, which means “our own maize seed.”
Philip planted the new drought tolerant variety developed by the
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other partners
under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa program.
For the
news announcement see http://www.cimmyt.org/en/component/content/article/512-2011/1052-countering-drought-journalist-policy-advisor-roger-thurow-visits-farmers-in-machakos-kenya
Or read the
blog at http://globalfoodforthought.typepad.com/global-food-for-thought/2011/06/roger-thurow-outrage-and-inspire-countering-drought.html
Source:
CIMMYT:
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.13 Malawi
farmers benefit from improved groundnut varieties
Farmers in
the Kasungu District of Malawi are experiencing the impact of ICRISAT’s efforts
in improving livelihood opportunities in the area through the introduction of
improved groundnut varieties. ICRISAT, in collaboration with the Cooperative
for American Relief Everywhere (CARE) Malawi and the Sumader Association of
Family Entrepreneurs (SAFE), implemented a three-year project in three selected
TAs of Kasungu District, namely Njombwa, Kaomba and Mwase. The project
contributed towards building the capacity of farmers through various
interventions ranging from community seed banks, recommended cultural practices
for groundnut production and linking them to markets.
“Since the project started, I have been able
to multiply seeds on my own through ICRISAT’s assistance and for the past two
years, have been harvesting 16 bags of 40-kg each of high yielding groundnut
variety from the same piece of land I used to harvest only 4 bags with my
traditional variety,” said Mrs Janet Tenganani, a 67 year old farmer. She added
that she uses the proceeds from the groundnut produce to pay school fees for
her two grandchildren. According to her, the high yielding potential of ICRISAT’s
groundnut variety ICGV-SM 90704 (Nsinjiro) has really transformed her life in
just a short period of time. ICGV-SM 90704 is a medium duration variety, which
yields around 2 t/ha and is resistant to groundnut rosette disease.
See the
full story at http://www.icrisat.org/newsroom/latest-news/happenings/happenings1470.htm#5
Source:
ICRISAT:
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.14 China to
fully conduct “31511” super rice project during the 12th Five-Year Plan period
Beijing,
China
July 13,
2011
It was
reported, on July 5, 2011, from the national working conference on research and
promotion of super rice, held in Changchun, Jilin Province, by the Ministry of
Agriculture (MOA) that, in developing super rice during the period of the 12th
Five-Year Plan, China would, guided by the Scientific Outlook on Development,
focus on the production of high-yield, fine-quality, efficient,
environmental-friendly and safe super rice, and adhere to the three-phase
principle of “promoting the application of research results, deepening the
study and extension, and striving for the final goal.
” We would
take efforts to promote innovation in breeding methods, speed up selection and
breeding, develop supporting techniques, encourage demonstration and extension,
expand total growing area, increase the yield per unit area and improve quality
and efficiency, in a bid to advance the large-scale, standardized and
industrialized production of high-quality super rice. We would spare no pains
to carry out the “31511” project, i.e. by 2015, we would have bred more than 30
varieties of super rice, increased the area planted with super rice by over 150
million mu annually, increased the output per mu by 100 jin (50 kg) on average,
and improved the efficiency by saving more than 100 yuan per mu, in order to
get science and technology to better support the work of national food
security.
It is
learned that after 15-year continued improvement in and 5-year support to super
rice with special programs, a total of 83 new varieties have been identified by
the MOA and applied to all major rice growing areas across the country. During
the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the accumulated area planted with these new
varieties amounted to 414 million mu and the average yield per mu reached 575.2
kg, an increase of 67.9 kg. Thus, the accumulated increase of rice yield
totaled 5.619 million tons during that period, making great contribution to
China’s seven consecutive years of increase in rice production and to the new
record in rice yield per unit area.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19027&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.15 Mozambique
gets new designer rice
The first
IRRI-bred rice variety especially designed for Mozambique – Makassane – has
been approved for release.
Makassane
has the same yields as the leading local variety but it has better grain
quality and is resistant to local diseases.
If better
varieties like Makassane can be more widely adopted, Mozambique could become
both self sufficient in rice and a rice exporter.
Following
extensive testing across Mozambique, Makassane was chosen as the best tasting
locally grown rice variety. It has an attractive long grain, a nice texture
when eaten, and has disease resistance, which is very important to local
farmers. Makassane is the first rice variety bred by the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) that has been designed especially for Mozambique
consumers and farmers to ensure it suits local market needs and production
conditions.
Read more
at http://irri.org/news-events/media-releases/mozambique-gets-new-designer-rice
Source:
IRRI:
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
1.16 Meeting on
global food research in Wageningen
Wageningen,
The Netherlands
July 21,
2011
Heads of
six leading universities and research organisations in food and agriculture
from all over the world met in Wageningen, the Netherlands, on 14 and 15 July
to discuss a cooperative effort on food and agricultural research. The goal is
to join forces on the development of sound and reliable methods for food
production in order to successfully deal with the challenges facing us in this
area in the coming decades. Not only will world food production have to be
drastically increased, the production methods will also have to become cleaner
and more sustainable and the available foods need to be adequately translated
into healthy diets.
Over
the coming decades, the world's population will increase from the current seven
billion to eight billion in 2025 and nine billion in 2050. In combination with
increasing prosperity, this will lead to a doubling of the global demand for
food in the coming decades and a shift in the composition of the foods being
eaten to include a higher percentage of animal proteins. In addition, the
demand for vegetables will increase drastically. All six organisations are
convinced that successfully dealing with these challenges will require breakthroughs
in knowledge and technology.
The
participants are all leading institutions from the most important food
producing countries in the world: Embrapa from Brazil, the University of
California (UC) Davis from the US, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
(CAAS) from China, INRA from France, Massey University from New Zealand and
Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) from the Netherlands. Most of
these organisations have already bilateral cooperation among each other.
This
new initiative will build further on this, is action oriented, will ensure that
the group as a whole aligns its research priorities and activities more
effectively and intends to launch new initiatives that are beyond the reach of
each individually. This will improve the quality of the outcome and speed up
the rate at which progress is being made in developing and transferring the
necessary knowledge and innovations. In this way the group expects to add value
and to be an interesting partner to both public bodies and private industry.
This
first meeting was successful in structuring the initiative and identifying the
most promising actions to start with. These will be worked out in further
detail in the coming period.
The
initiative will officially be launched later this year.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19219&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.17 Organic plant breeding yields healthy diversity
Innovation based on
nature and tradition
By Marieke Vos-Zweers
July 15, 2011
Have you ever tasted a purple carrot? Yellow squash? Blue potatoes?
Purple-and-white “Martian Jewels” corn?
Unlike what you might expect, these exotically colored vegetables are not
the result of new artificial breeding experiments. The Martian Jewels corn was
found in this year’s Seeds of Change catalog, which includes only organic seeds
and varieties.
In addition to mainstream breeding techniques, there is organic
plant breeding. There is no genetic modification (GM) in organic
breeding, but that’s not all there is to it.
Organic breeding holds itself to high requirements based on plants’
natural reproductive ability, genetic diversity, natural species authenticity,
species characteristics, agro-biodiversity, cultural diversity, and a focus on
the cooperation between farmers, breeders, and traders.
A difference between mainstream breeding and organic breeding is that the
latter aims to enhance inherent plant resilience instead of focusing on
singular disease immunity and yield improvement.
“Apart from aversive socio-economic effects and environmental and health
risks of the GM approaches, [organic breeding] is about values,” Dr. Edith
Lammerts van Bueren, chair of organic plant breeding at Wageningen University
and Research Center in the Netherlands, told The Epoch Times.
“It focuses more on a partnership with nature and less on a ruler-subject
or stewardship attitude toward nature.”
For example, one of her Ph.D. students works to redevelop old corn
cultivars in Southwest Guizhou, China. These are used to prepare some
traditional, special dishes that cannot be prepared with common corn varieties.
The varieties are then bred on farms. This process involved breeder-farmer
cooperation and was able to maintain cultural diversity.
The good news is that mainstream and organic breeding do not necessarily
have to be antagonistic. Organic breeding can innovate mainstream breeding
programs and vice versa.
For example, some molecular selection tools used in mainstream breeding
programs can potentially shorten organic breeding programs without violating
plants’ natural authenticity or damaging their natural reproductive ability.
Organic plant breeding can in return “diversify and innovate conventional
breeding programs through its unique perspective and experience on plant
breeding within a natural and cultural context,” Lammerts van Bueren said.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/organic-plant-breeding-59161.html
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.18 GEAC mandates prior state govt okay
Sanjeeb Mukherjee & Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi July 7, 2011,
0:08 IST
With states
wanting information on field trials of genetically modified crops, the Genetic
Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) today directed applicants or companies
wishing to conduct field trials for genetically modified (GM) crops to first
produce a no-objection certificate from the states where they wished to do
this.
Bihar,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have earlier objected to field
trials on GM crops being conducted in their state without their knowledge.
Bihar chief
minister Nitish Kumar, for instance, had written to Union environment minister
Jairam Ramesh for details on the field trials for GM maize being conducted in
the state by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Madhya Pradesh
recently sought details of the places where trials for GM crops were being
conducted.
In the new
rules, those wishing to conduct field trials for GM crops must first write to
the GEAC about the place they have in mind. The Committee would then analyse
the site on various parameters, such as its location near a sanctuary, water
body, etc. After obtaining clearance, the applicants would have to get a
no-objection certificate from the state in question as well, before any field
trial.
GM
companies are unhappy. “It will obviously delay the process for getting
clearance for field trials,” said Paresh Verma, director, research, in Shriram
Bioseed Ltd and a member of the National Seed Association of India.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/geac-mandates-prior-state-govt-okay/441843/
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.19 USDA/APHIS reopens comment period for
draft environmental assessment for drought tolerant corn
Washington,
DC, USA
July 27,
2011
The U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
has reopened the comment period for a petition received from the Monsanto
Company seeking a determination of nonregulated status for corn designated as
MON 87460, which has been genetically engineered for drought tolerance. This
action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit
comments on the Monsanto petition and APHIS’ plant pest risk assessment and
draft environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed determination of nonregulated
status.
The comment
period on Docket No. APHIS-2011-0023 is being reopened for an additional 30
days, ending Aug. 12. APHIS will also consider all comments received between
July 12 (the day after the close of the original comment period) and the date
of this notice.
The draft
EA provides APHIS decisionmakers with a review and analysis of any potential
environment impacts associated with the proposed determination of nonregulated
status for MON 87460 corn.
Notice of
this action is published in today’s July 27 Federal Register.
You may
submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal
eRulemaking Portal: Go to
www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0023-0001.
Postal
Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2011-0023,
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River
Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.
Supporting
documents and any comments we receive on this docket may be viewed at www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0023 or in
our reading room, which is located in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th
Street and Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. To facilitate entry into the
comment reading room, please call (202) 690-2817.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19385&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.20 The Global Plant Council Forges Ahead
The Global Plant Council (GPC) is a not-for-profit organization, is a
coalition of plant science societies of the world that brings plant scientists
together to work synergistically toward solving the pressing problems facing
humankind and that speaks with a strong voice from a plant science perspective
to inform the global debate on those problems.
On June 28 – 29 this year 2011, the GPC met in the beautiful city of
Qingdao on the coast of eastern Shandong province in China. The GPC 2nd
annual meeting was generously hosted by the Chinese Society of Plant Biology
(CSPB) and expertly and smoothly organized by Professor Zuhua He, the Secretary
General of CSPB, and his team of capable assistants. Fourteen of the 20 GPC
member societies were represented at the meeting, either by serving presidents
or by the society’s chosen representative.
The main focus of the meeting was to identify and discuss global
challenges that human society is facing and for which a concerted action is
needed from plant scientists around the world. The goal was to develop focused
topic areas and a deployment strategy that would allow GPC to move forward into
active participation in the global debates that can be informed and impacted by
the work and talents of the plant science community: world hunger, human health
and well-being, climate change, energy and biomaterials, and sustainability and
environmental protection. During the meeting, GPC decided that the best way
forward was to hold workshops on key issues related to global challenges. These
workshops would bring together plant scientists, breeders and other specialists
from all over the globe with the necessary expertise to generate a road map as
to how plant science can address, mitigate, or offer solutions for the issues
that GPC plans to address.
The Council identified nine key issues that GPC feels must be discussed
and facilitated in the global plant community in greater depths. These nine key
issues, in order of perceived priority for GPC action, are: Digital Seed Bank,
Local-level Diversity and Yield Stability, Increasing/Enriching Agricultural
Diversity, Biofortification, The Plant Environment Metagenome, Development of
Medicinal Plant-based Products, Species Information for Sustainable Adaptation
Capability to Climate Change, Developing Perennial Rice/Wheat/Maize, Sharing
Information and Resources.
GPC member the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) has kindly
volunteered to host the next (3rd) Annual Meeting of the Global
Plant Council in Freiburg, Germany either before or after the joint EPSO/FESPB
meeting that runs from July 29th to August 4th, 2012
For more information about GPC, you are invited to visit our website www.globalplantcouncil.org, or feel free to contact: Mel
Oliver (Executive Director, Global Plant Council, olivermj@missouri.edu)
Contributed by Kasem Zaki Ahmed
Interim Executive Committee, GPC
Immediate Past President, African Crop Science Society;
Professor of Genetics, Minia
University, El-Minia, Egypt, ET-61517.
E-mail: acss@acss.ws ahmed_kz@yahoo.com
1.21 Adoption of genetically engineered crops
in the U.S.
Washington,
DC, USA
July 1,
2011
Overview
U.S.
farmers have adopted genetically engineered (GE) crops widely since their
commercial introduction in 1996, notwithstanding uncertainty about consumer
acceptance and economic and environmental impacts. In terms of share of planted
acres, soybeans and cotton have been the most widely adopted GE crops in the
U.S., followed by corn. This data product summarizes the extent of adoption of
herbicide-tolerant and insect–resistant crops since their introduction in 1996.
Three tables devoted to corn, cotton, and soybeans cover the 2000-11 period by State. See more on
the extent of adoption...
Data
The
following tables provide the data obtained by USDA's National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS) in the June Agricultural Survey annually for 2000
through 2011. Randomly selected farmers across the United States were asked if
they planted corn, soybeans, or upland cotton seed that, through biotechnology,
is resistant to herbicides, insects, or both. Conventionally bred
herbicide-tolerant varieties were excluded. "Stacked" gene varieties
are those containing GE traits for both herbicide tolerance (HT) and insect
resistance (Bt).
- Corn: genetically engineered varieties by State and United
States, 2000-11
- Cotton: genetically engineered varieties by State and United
States, 2000-11
- Soybeans: genetically engineered varieties by State and United
States, 2000-11
- All tables in one Excel workbook (multiple worksheets)
According
to NASS, the States published in these tables represent 81-86 percent of all
corn planted acres, 87-90 percent of all soybean planted acres, and 81-93
percent of all upland cotton planted acres (depending on the year). See more on
the extent of adoption.
The acreage
estimates are subject to sampling variability because all operations planting
GE varieties are not included in the sample. The variability for the 48 corn
States, calculated by NASS using the relative standard error at the U.S. level,
is 0.3-1.8 percent for all GE varieties (depending on the year), 1.6-2.5
percent for insect-resistant (Bt)-only varieties, 1.6-3.8 percent for
herbicide-tolerant-only varieties, and 1.0-10.8 percent for stacked gene
varieties. Variability for the 31 soybean States is 0.3-0.8 percent for
herbicide-tolerant varieties, depending on the year. Variability for the 17
upland cotton States is 0.6-2.2 percent for all GE varieties, 4.6-6.6 percent
for insect-resistant (Bt)-only varieties, 2.6-6.6 percent for
herbicide-tolerant-only varieties, and 2.0-4.2 percent for stacked gene
varieties.
Updates
These
tables will be updated with 2011 GE adoption figures in July 2012 once the
survey data become available at the end of June 2012.
Data
Sources
Check the data
glossary for details of the different surveys that provided the data.
Related
Resources
Many people
are interested in information about the global GE acreage. USDA does not
collect these data. Estimates are produced by the International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) and can be found in the
report, Global Status of Commercialized Transgenic Crops: 2010.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18733&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.22 Genetically modifying wheat for healthier bread
By Asa Wahlquist
Friday, 01/07/2011
The CSIRO is trialling genetically modified wheat and barley, but not for
pesticide resistance like other GM crops. This new variety is aimed at
producing healthier foods.
With variations to the plant which combat type two diabetes, obesity,
cardiovascular disease and colo-rectal cancers.
The new variety is classified as GM, even though no new genes or proteins
have been introduced into the plants.
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2011/s3258690.htm
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.23 European Parliament backs national right
to to ban or restrict the cultivation of genetically modified crops
Strasbourg,
France
July 5,
2011
EU Member States should
have the flexibility to ban or restrict the cultivation of genetically modified
crops and should be able to cite environmental motives for doing so, according
to MEPs voting on draft legislation on Tuesday.
The draft
amendment to existing legislation - adopted with 548 votes in favour, 84
against and 31 abstentions - will now go to the Council for further discussion.
Parliament’s rapporteur Corinne Lepage (ALDE, FR) commented: “I am pleased that
the Parliament has reached an agreement on the difficult issue of GMOs, which
has been an issue of public concern for years. If the Council manages to find a
common position, this balanced agreement will allow countries and regions the
right to not grow GMOs if they so choose.”
Grounds to
ban
The
Commission had proposed to grant EU Member States the right to ban crops on all
but health or environmental grounds, which were to be solely assessed by the
European Food Safety Authority. Committed to ensuring a firmer legal basis in
the context of international trade rules, Parliament insisted that Member
States should not be prevented from stating additional environmental grounds.
These could include pesticide resistance, biodiversity preservation or a lack
of data on potential negative consequences to the environment.
Parliament
also considered that socioeconomic impacts could provide legitimate grounds for
a ban, e.g. where contamination risks to conventional or organic agriculture
cannot practicably be managed.
The cost of
contamination
MEPs say
all Member States must take measures to prevent contamination of conventional
or organic farming by GM crops, and ensure those responsible for such incidents
can be held financially liable.
Updating EU
safety checks
An EU-level
safety check and authorisation will continue to be a precondition to a green
light for growing GMOs. While the proposal does not affect this process, MEPs
reminded the Commission that the guidelines need updating.
Only one
strain of GM maize and one modified potato are currently authorised for
cultivation in the EU and most Member States do not currently grow either crop
commercially. Austria, France, Greece, Hungary, Germany and Luxembourg have
activated a "safeguard clause" in the current (2001) EU Directive to
expressly prohibit cultivation of certain GMOs.
Procedure:
Co-decision (1st reading)
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18807&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.24 Voluntary guidelines to allow for labelling of world’s genetically
modified foods
GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA— From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
July. 05, 2011
A 20-year international battle to prevent food labels from revealing the
presence of genetically modified ingredients has ended, but Canadian consumers
will continue to be left in the dark.
On Tuesday, the United States dropped its opposition to guidelines from
the world’s food safety regulatory agencies on the labelling of food derived
from modern biotechnology.
Canada, like the United States, is among the largest international
producers of genetically modified food, but it gave up the fight last year
after arguing against GM labelling for more than a decade.
But the guidelines issued by the Codex Alimentarius Commission – a
collection of more than 100 agencies that monitor food safety around the world
– are voluntary. And Health Canada, which is responsible for food safety in
this country, has no plans to require labels on food sold here to be rewritten
to indicate the presence of genetically modified organisms.
Stephane Shank, a Health Canada spokesman, said his department would
require labelling of GM food products only if there was a clear, scientifically
established health risk, or if the genetic modification significantly altered
the nutritional value.
“To date,” he said, “Health Canada has not identified health risks
associated with GM foods that have been approved for sale in Canada.”
Nearly 70 per cent of the foods that Canadians eat have genetically
modified components, and most scientists agree there is no valid research to
prove they pose any sort of health threat.
But many developing countries still want the right to inform consumers
about GM ingredients.
So the news that the Codex agencies, which met on Tuesday in Geneva,
would be issuing GM labelling guidelines was “a huge global victory for
consumers around the world, for food sovereignty of nations around the world in
the global fight over the future of genetic engineering,” said Lucy Sharratt,
the co-ordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.
“The U.S. was bent on making sure these guidelines did not happen,” she
said. “And Canada, at very many points, had supported the U.S. position of
sabotaging the negotiations and stopping the guidelines.”
The Codex agencies also agreed that each country has the right to adopt
its own approach to labelling GM food.
As a result, countries that wish to adopt GM labelling can now do so
without facing the threat of a legal challenge from the World Trade
Organization. National measures based on Codex guidelines cannot be challenged
as a barrier to trade.
Ms. Sharratt said Canada’s opposition to GM labelling in other countries
ended as a result of public outcry. But she said she does not expect the fight
to require GM labels in Canada to end soon.
“There has been over 15 years worth of protests whereby Canadian
consumers have demanded mandatory labelling and there are at least nine polls
since 1999 that show over 80 per cent of Canadians want mandatory labelling of
all genetically modified food,” Ms. Sharratt said, “and the government has
steadfastly refused to label genetically modified foods.”
Although she agrees there is no evidence of health-safety problems, Ms.
Sharratt also said it has been a difficult issue to study because GM food is
not labelled and, therefore, cannot be monitored.
Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at the University of Guelph west of
Toronto who is an expert on food safety and distribution, said he believes
consumers deserve transparency.
“It’s really about risk perceptions, not actual risk,” Dr. Charlebois
said. “We need to demystify [genetically modified organisms] in general. And by
adopting a policy that would actually make labelling mandatory, I think it
would force the food industry to educate the public.”
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.25 ISAAA
presents the first five Biotech Country Facts and Trends
July 8,
2011
International
Service for the Aquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)
presents the first five Biotech Country Facts and Trends, a one to two page
summary of the important highlights in the commercialization of biotech crops
in the first five developing countries (Brazil, Argentina, India, China, and
Paraguay) for 2010.
Data on
biotech crop commercialization (hectarage and adoption) in 2010, approvals and
planting, benefits and future prospects in each country are presented in a
brief and easily understandable manner.
The
contents are all based on ISAAA Brief 42: Global Report of Commercialized
Biotech/GM Crops for 2010, authored by Clive James.
We
encourage downloads and sharing of the materials.
Visit http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/biotech_country_facts_and_trends/default.asp
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18912&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.26 Chinese
Academy of Sciences scientist reports advances in development of GM
herbicide resistant hybrid rice in China
July 8,
2011
Xiao
Guo-ying, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported the recent advances
in the development of herbicide resistant transgenic hybrid rice in China.
Herbicide resistance genes were used by Chinese scientists in identifying the
purity of hybrid seeds and to perform mechanization of hybrid seed production.
Since most important restorer genes are indica varieties and are recalcitrant
to transformation, a number of herbicide resistant near-isogenic restorer lines
were developed through sexual hybridization of indica and japonica varieties
and backcross with indica restorer lines later.
Herbicide
resistant male sterile lines or herbicide resistant restorer lines were also
used and produced a few herbicide resistant hybrid rice combinations.
Researchers are investigating the parental lines of hybrid rice with important
traits such as insect resistance and drought tolerance.
Recent
Advances in Development of Herbicide Resistant Transgenic Hybrid Rice in China
XIAO
Guo-ying
Institute
of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
In addition
to weed control in direct seeding field of hybrid rice, herbicide resistance
genes were used by Chinese scientists to increase and identify the purity of
hybrid seeds, and to realize the mechanization of hybrid seed production. The
elite restorer lines, such as Minghui 63, R752, T461, R402, D68 and E32 were
transformed directly with herbicide resistance genes, in which D68 and E32 are
restorer lines of two-line system and the others are of three-line system.
Because almost all of important restorer lines are indica varieties and are
recalcitrant in transformation, many herbicide resistant near-isogenic restorer
lines were developed by sexual hybridization of indica and japonica varieties
and backcross with indica restorer lines later, such as Ce 64, Minghui 63,
Teqing, Milyang 46, R402 and 9311, in which 9311 is a restorer line of two-line
system. The Pei'ai 64S, P88S, 4008S and 7001S, were transformed with herbicide
resistance genes. A few herbicide resistant male sterile lines were developed
through sexual hybridization and subsequently systemic selection, such as
Bar1259S, Bar2172S, 05Z221A and 05Z227A. With the employment of herbicide
resistant male sterile lines or herbicide resistant restorer lines, a few
herbicide resistant hybrid rice combinations were developed, such as Xiang
125S/Bar 68-1 and Pei'ai 64S/Bar 9311. Based on herbicide resistance, the
research was marching on to investigate the parental lines of hybrid rice with
insect resistance, drought tolerance, etc.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18915&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
Crop Biotech Update via SeedQuest.com
1.27 Herbicide resistance, weeds are spreading in the United States
July 13, 2011
Herbicide resistance is growing. At least 21 weed species have now
developed resistance to glyphosate, a systemic herbicide that has been
effectively used to kill weeds and can be found in many commercial products.
Some weeds are now developing resistance to alternative herbicides in use. New
occurrences of resistance are being noted in varying weed species and
locations, creating challenges for weed scientists.
Several articles in the current issue of the journal Weed Science focus on
the issue of herbicide resistance. The articles highlight first reports of
resistance. “The herbicide resistance issue is becoming serious,” the journal’s
editor, William K. Vencill, said. “It is spreading out beyond where weed
scientists have seen it before.”
Palmer amaranth is a common weed that competes with cotton, soybean, corn,
grain sorghum, and peanut crops in the southern United States. A density of 10
of these weeds per row of cotton has been shown to reduce yields more than 50
percent. By 2010, 52 counties in the state of Georgia had infestations of
glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth.
Field and greenhouse tests conducted for the current study now confirm that
this weed is resistant not only to glyphosate, but also to phrithiobac, an
acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicide. This marks one of the first reports
of multiple resistance to both glyphosate and pyrithiobac in Palmer amaranth.
As multiple herbicide resistance becomes more common, a grower’s ability to be
economically sustainable is threatened.
Another study in this issue conducted dose-response, ammonia accumulation,
and enzyme activity tests on glyphosate-resistant Italian ryegrass populations
taken from hazelnut orchards in Oregon. This research now confirms resistance
of Italian ryegrass to another control alternative, glufosinate ammonium, a
nonselective broad-spectrum herbicide.
In West Memphis, Ark., another study reports the first documented
glyphosate-resistant johnsongrass biotype in the United States. A soybean field
in continuous production over 6 years showed reduced control of johnsongrass
with the recommended application rate of glyphosate. A greenhouse study was
conducted with this johnsongrass to confirm this finding and determine any
differences in absorption or translocation of the herbicide within these
plants.
As herbicide resistance spreads, growers will need new weed management
strategies. These could include herbicides with alternative sites of action
within the plant or nonchemical methods such as tilling and mulching. Growers
should prevent resistant weeds in a production field from reaching reproductive
maturity to prevent spread of the trait through seed or pollen.
Full text of “Multiple Resistance in Palmer Amaranth to Glyphosate and
Pyrithiobac Confirmed in Georgia,” and other articles in Weed Science, Vol. 59,
No. 3, May-June 2011, are available at http://allenpress.com/publications/journals/wees
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.28 Propiedad Intelectual indispensable para una agricultura competitive
Latin America
July 2011
Alrededor de 150 participantes interesados en conocer sobre la Propiedad
Intelectual y Asuntos Regulatorios de Latinoamérica se dieron cita en CIPIAGRI,
el primer Congreso sobre Propiedad Intelectual en Agricultura organizado por la
Asociación para la Defensa Vegetal – ANDEF con el apoyo de CropLife Latin
America. El evento profundizo en que la Propiedad Intelectual y sus diferentes
herramientas, como las patentes y protección de datos de prueba, desempeńan un
papel indispensable para el desarrollo sostenible de la agricultura basada en tecnologías
de Investigación y Desarrollo.
Diferentes expositores internacionales pusieron en escena temas
coyunturales para la industria en Latinoamérica: César Parga de la Organización
de Estados Americanos (OEA), expuso sobre generación y transacción de valor
agregado en la producción agrícola utilizando herramientas de PI; el Dr. Joseph
Straus, del Max Planck Institut, concluyó que existe un balance positivo para
la actividad agrícola en países donde se ha implementado el Acuerdo ADPIC; y
Javier Fernandez, Consejero Legal y Director de Asuntos Regulatorios de
CropLife Latin América, resaltó que el reto futuro que enfrente la industria de
Ciencia de los Cultivos para continuar apoyando a la agricultura es la
protección de su información confidencial de cara a un cada vez más complejo
escenario regulatorio.
En su conferencia, Javier Fernandez de CropLife Latin America, reflexiona
sobre la necesidad de ciencia para una agricultura sostenible a largo plazo en
una coyuntura en la que la población mundial cada día demandará más alimento de
mejor calidad, con un decrecimiento de tierra arable y escasez de recursos
hídricos. Informa sobre la inversión creciente en Investigación y Desarrollo
que hace Industria de la Ciencia de los Cultivos, para introducir nuevas tecnologías
cada vez más seguras y amigables con el medio ambiente. Y finalmente, muestra
el pasó a pasó de cuales herramientas de la Protección Intelectual sirven para
fomentar la Investigación y Desarrollo en este sector.
More news
from: CropLife
Latin America
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19101&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.29 Embrapa apresenta coleçăo nuclear de feijăo comum
Brazil
July 4, 2011
As informaçőes referentes ŕ conservaçăo, variabilidade e diversidade
genética dentro de uma espécie săo essenciais para o uso racional dos recursos
genéticos. Preocupado em preservar essas riquezas genéticas países e
instituiçőes de pesquisa procuram coletar e armazenar em banco de germoplasma
espécie de interesse agronômico, resultando em um grande número de acessos que,
ŕs vezes, dificulta o uso e acessibilidade a todos estes germoplasma.
Foi com esse objetivo que pesquisadores da área de recursos e melhoramento
genéticos de feijăo da Embrapa Arroz e Feijăo realizaram, através de
estratégias de análise por modelos multivariados, a seleçăo de acessos de germoplasma
tradicional para compor uma amostragem da coleçăo ativa de germoplasma de
feijăo comum e avaliar sua representatividade em relaçăo ao germoplasma
tradicional contido no Banco Ativo de Germoplasma (BAG) do Centro de Pesquisa
de Arroz e Feijăo, sediado no Estado de Goiás.
“Algumas coleçőes săo tăo grandes que dificultam a conservaçăo, avaliaçăo e
acessibilidade ŕ diversidade genética. Desta forma, o conceito de se trabalhar
por amostragem da coleçăo ativa resultando na “coleçăo nuclear” visa garantir a
variabilidade genética da coleçăo toda, tendo como base um número reduzido de
acessos, permitindo maior facilidade e eficięncia na exploraçăo dos recursos
genéticos”, observou Jaison Pereira de Oliveira, pesquisador da Embrapa Arroz e
Feijăo, coordenador do projeto.
Segundo Jaison, dentre 2903 acessos de coletas, foram selecionados 400
(9,5% do total de acessos tradicionais da coleçăo ativa do BAG). Nesta
amostragem estăo representadas as características genéticas de espécies de
feijăo comum de todas as regiőes geográficas do Brasil, baseado em descritores
morfológicos como cor de semente, tipo de crescimento e tamanho de semente além
de descritores ecogeográficos como regiăo geográfica, unidade federativa,
altitude e classe de solo.
A atual coleçăo de germoplasma de feijăo comum (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) da
Embrapa Arroz e Feijăo é composta por 14.307 acessos, sendo que 4.547 deles săo
acessos tradicionais originados de coletas realizadas no país desde a década de
70.
Embora existam na literatura várias estratégias para formar coleçőes
nucleares capazes de representar a variabilidade contida na coleçăo ativa de
germosplasma, a estratégia por modelos multivariados proporcionou a formaçăo de
uma coleçăo nuclear que representou muito bem a coleçăo ativa, melhorando a
acessibilidade e usabilidade das informaçőes reunidas no BAG da Embrapa Arroz e
Feijăo.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18768&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.30 Improving peanut crops through genetics
and core collections
Researchers utilize
core collections of peanut genetics to solve agricultural problems for farmers
around the world
Madison,
Wisconsin, USA
July 12,
2011
Peanut
production in the U.S. is primarily targeted towards the candy industry and for
the production of peanut butter. Velencia peanuts, one of the major market type
peanuts in the country, are mainly grown as an in-shell peanut and are desired
by the candy industry due to their distinct sweet flavor. This type of peanut
is predominantly grown in eastern New Mexico and west Texas under irrigated
conditions.
Most of the
irrigation water in this region comes from the Ogallala aquifer. This aquifer
is vital for the Southern High Plains, an area receiving only 450 mm rainfall
per year with an evaporation rate greater than 2,000 mm per year. It is
estimated that the aquifer could be depleted within 30 to 40 years. Farmers
need peanut cultivars that mature early and produce greater yields with less
use of water to continue growing peanuts in this region in the future.
Because
genebanks around the world have such large collections of peanut genetics, it
is unmanageable for an organization to screen the collections for useful
traits. The development of core collections (10% of the total collection),
which capture ~80% of genetic variability in the entire collection, has been
suggested as a powerful strategy for providing crop breeding programs with
useful genetic resources.
Researchers
at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the International Crop Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India developed a core
collection specific to the Valencia peanut, representing genetics from 15
countries. The full results from this study can be found in the May-June 2011
issue of Crop Science.
Further
collaborative research involving scientists from three US universities (NMSU,
Texas A&M, Texas Tech), the USDA-ARS Cropping System Research Lab. at
Lubbock, Texas, the ICRISAT, and the National Semi-Arid Resources Research
Institute (NaSARRI), Uganda was conducted. Scientists were able to place large
amounts of genetic information from all over the world into five distinct
groups, allowing researchers to determine which locations are most important to
maintain genetic diversity for the Valencia peanut.
This
research was supported in part by National Peanut Board, New Mexico Peanut
Research Board, New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station, USDA-ARS, and
USAID-Peanut CRSP through the University of Georgia.
Naveen
Puppala, who leads the group at NMSU and collaborates with US
Universities/USDA-ARS, ICRISAT, and NaSARRI, believes that this partnership
approach will help address significant agricultural problems for peanut farmers
around the world.
The full
article is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this
summary. View the abstract at https://www.crops.org/publications/cs/articles/51/3/1089.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19017&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.31 Species
affected by climate change: to shift or not to shift?
Australia
July 25,
2011
Relocating
species threatened by climate change is a radical and hotly debated strategy
for maintaining biodiversity. In a paper published today in the journal Nature
Climate Change, researchers from CSIRO, University of Queensland and United
States Geological Survey present a pragmatic decision framework for determining
when, if ever, to move species in the face of climate change.
“As our
climate changes more rapidly than species can adapt or disperse, natural
resource managers increasingly want to know what adaptation options are
available to help them conserve biodiversity,” said co-author, CSIRO researcher
and research fellow at the University of Queensland Dr Eve McDonald-Madden.
Managed
relocation, also known as assisted colonisation, of species involves moving
plants or animals from an area that is, or will become, untenable because of
climate change, to areas where there are more suitable climatic conditions but
in which the plants or animals have not occurred previously.
“While the
virtues of managed relocation of species are being debated by the scientific
community, the reality is that it is already occurring.
“The
decision-making framework we have developed shows that the best timing for
moving species depends on many factors such as: the size of the population, the
expected losses in the population through relocation, and the expected numbers
that the new location could be expected to support.
“It would
also rely on good predictions about the impact of climate shifts on a
particular species and the suitability of areas to which they can move – an
often difficult issue in the case of rare species because we just don’t have
this sort of detailed information,” Dr McDonald-Madden said.
CSIRO
researcher Dr Tara Martin said monitoring and learning about how potentially
climate change-affected plants and animals function in their ‘native’
ecosystems will play a crucial role in ensuring that managed relocation plans
succeed.
“Active
adaptive management is important when we are unsure of what the climatic
changes are likely to be in the current habitat.
“Our
framework provides managers with a rational basis for making timely decisions
under uncertainty to ensure species persistence in the long-term” Dr Martin
said.
“Without
relocating species we are destined to lose some of our most important and
iconic wildlife, but at the end of the day we also need viable ecosystems into
which we can move species.
“Managed
relocation is not a quick fix. It will be used in some specific circumstances
for species that we really care about, but it will not be a saviour for all
biodiversity in the face of climate change,” Dr Martin said.
This work
was funded by: Climate Adaptation Flagship, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences; ARC
Centre for Excellence in Environmental Decisions, University of Queensland; School
of Biological Sciences, The Ecology Centre, University of Queensland; United
States Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; and the Australian
Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis, University of Melbourne.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19278&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.32 Chance discovery of a genetic mutation in
wild barley leads to an international study deciphering evolution of life on
land
Haifa,
Israel
July 25,
2011
A chance
discovery of a genetic mutation in wild barley that grows in Israel’s Judean
Desert, in the course of a doctoral study at the University of Haifa, has led
to an international study deciphering evolution of life on land. The study has
been published in the prestigious journal PNAS. “Life on Earth began in the
water, and in order for plants to rise above water to live on land, they had to
develop a cuticle membrane that would protect them from uncontrolled
evaporation and dehydration. “In our study we discovered a completely new gene
that along with other genes contributes to the formation of this cuticle,” said
Prof. Eviatar Nevo of the Institute of Evolution of the University of Haifa,
who took part in the study.
In the
course of doctoral research carried out by Guoxiong Chen, which began at the
University of Haifa in 2000 under the supervision of Prof. Nevo, the Chinese
doctoral student found a mutation of wild barley in the Judean Desert that was
significantly smaller than regular wild barley. It was found that this mutation
causes an abnormal increase in water loss because of a disruption in the
production of the plant’s cutin that is secreted from the epidermal cells and
is a component in the plant’s cuticle that reduces water loss and prevents the
plant’s dehydration.
Guoxiong
Chen has since returned to China and achieved full professorship while
continuing his study of the Judean Desert’s wild barley for which he enrolled
an international team of scholars from China, Japan, Switzerland and Israel.
After about eight years of research, this team discovered a new gene that
contributes to the production of cutin, which is found in all land plants but
is either nonexistent or present in tiny amounts in aquatic plants. Chen called
this new gene Eibi1, in honor of his supervisor, Prof. Nevo.
“This is
one of the genes that contributed to the actual eventuality of life on land as
we know it today. It is a key element in the adaptation process that aquatic
plants underwent in order to live on land,” explained Prof. Nevo. Besides the
evolutionary importance of this new gene, it is also of value in the future
enhancement of cereals. According to Prof. Nevo, once we can fully understand
the mechanism behind the production of cutin and discover genetic variants of
the Eibi1 gene, we will have the ability to enhance the cuticle formation of
wheat and barley species so as to make them more resistant to water loss and
more durable in the dryer conditions on land. “Genetic enhancement of
cultivated plants to make them durable in dry and saline conditions can
increase food production around the world,” the researcher concluded.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19288&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.33 Adapting crops and ‘natives’ to a
changing climate
Australia
July 26,
2011
CSIRO
scientists are investigating the potentially damaging effects climate change
will have on Australia’s agricultural crops and native plants as carbon dioxide
concentrations, temperatures and rainfall patterns change.
"We're
facing an urgent need to develop new crop varieties for anticipated conditions
in 20 to 50 years," said a team leader in the climate-ready cereals
project at CSIRO, Dr Jairo Palta.
The results
of Dr Palta's study into how different wheat traits perform under predicted
future climate conditions will enable wheat breeders to select traits that
maximise growth and quality.
Dr Palta is
one of many CSIRO researchers presenting their work at the 18th International
Botanical Congress this week in Melbourne.
Also
presenting is Dr Robert Godfree who is investigating how native and invasive
plant communities will respond to climate change.
"Grasses
are an important component of healthy agricultural ecosystems yet there is
relatively little data on how they will respond to climate change," Dr
Godfree said.
Preliminary
results are encouraging and the efficient, versatile and inexpensive experiment
design developed by Dr Godfree and his team is now being adopted by a number of
colleagues in Australia and overseas.
The iconic
Australian wattle (Acacia) may also feel the effects of a changing climate.
Dr Joe
Miller and his CSIRO colleagues are modelling the predicted distribution of
Acacia species around Australia using climate variables such as temperature,
available water and solar energy, soil type and topographic elevation.
"Once
we understand what climate variables are intrinsically tied to wattle habitats
we can predict where these habitats will move to in the future," Dr Miller
said.
Dr Miller
is also presenting an address on his work on the evolution of Acacia.
Being held
from 25-30 July 2011 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the
18th International Botanic Conference involves over 2000 scientists from 73
countries in detailed discussions about issues such as climate change,
evolution, taxonomy and ecology.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19438&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.34 Gene discovery in wild barley may lead to
stress tolerant crops
Eibi1 gene
was recently discovered by a group of researchers of the University of Haifa,
Israel led by Guoxiong Chen to be responsible for the production of cutin. Its
discovery was an offshoot of eight long years of study after a barley mutant
was found in the Judean desert, which exhibited an abnormal increase in water
loss because of a disruption of the plant's cutin.
This
discovery could be the element that could explain how aquatic plants were able
to evolve and survive on land. According to Prof. Eviatar Nevo of the Institute
of Evolution of the University of Haifa, who took part in the study, once the
mechanism of cutin production is fully understood, enhancement of cuticle
formation of wheat and barley species can be easily conducted to make them more
resistant to water loss.
See the
original news in Hebrew at http://newmedia-eng.haifa.ac.il/?p=5351#more-5351
Source:
Crop Biotech Update 29 July 2011
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.35 Designer roots to counter drought
Queensland,
Australia
July 11,
2011
Recent
discoveries by a University of Queensland agricultural scientist provide the
basis for custom designing plant roots.
Her
discovery is already being used by plant breeders to develop drought-resistant
sorghum crops.
The shape
of the root system plays an important role in sorghum's capacity to absorb
water.
Dr Vijaya
Singh of UQ's School of Agriculture and Food Science has demonstrated this is
governed largely by a region of the plant genome that she has located.
Her
findings and techniques could well be transferrable to other crop plants.
“Improving
efficiency of water use in field crops is a global imperative for food
security,” Dr Singh said.
Sorghum is
an important dryland cereal crop, which is grown in parts of the developing
world where drought is common, and also in north-eastern Australia.
“Despite
the fact that root systems are critical to water capture by plants and to
drought adaptation, little attention has been paid to them because they are so
difficult to study,” Dr Singh said.
So, she
developed a technique of growing sorghum seedlings in narrow transparent
Perspex containers and then scanning them to measure their root characteristics.
What she
found was that the angle at which seedling roots strike out from their first
branch point underground indicates the shape and function of the root system of
the mature plant.
And this
“nodal root angle” is under genetic control.
“I used
this discovery to locate the controlling genetic regions,” Dr Singh said.
“My results
showed that strains with a wide nodal root angle at the seedling stage had a
tendency to gather a greater proportion of their water at a distance, due to
the broader spatial pattern of their root systems.
"Conversely,
strains with a narrow nodal root angle had a greater capacity to extract water
from depth immediately below the plant.
"This
understanding will make it easier to design varieties better adapted to drought
stress.”
Dr Singh's
identification of the regions of the genome related to root system shape
presents opportunities for improving drought adaptation through breeding.
“This could
provide farmers with better grain yields, particularly in extreme drought years,”
she said.
“Ultimately,
this would help to stabilise farm income, which could improve the social and
economic structures of rural communities.”
Vijaya
Singh is one of 16 winners of Fresh Science, a national competition for
early-career scientists who are unveiling their research to the public for the
first time.
Her
training and challenges have included presenting her discoveries in verse at a
Melbourne pub, and to schools in Melbourne and country Victoria.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18985&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.36 Doubled
haploid bread wheat engineered for drought tolerance
July 2011
Paramjit
Khurana and Harsh Chauhan
Wheat is
one of the most important food crops in the world. Only a few accessions of the
donor wheat species contributed to the evolution of common wheat, thereby
excluding the larger genetic diversity of its parental species. Plant breeding
using the doubled-haploid (DH) system is used to speed up the breeding process.
In addition to its role in plant breeding, chromosome doubling may also be used
in genetic transformation studies, and DHs are prime targets for transformation
and genetic manipulation. Anther culture is useful for the rapid generation of
haploids, and it allows genetic and functional analysis when coupled with
transgenic technology. We report here on work performed at the Department of
Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi, India, in which such wheat anther
culture was investigated.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19009&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
Source: ISB News Report July 2011 via SeedQuest.com
1.37 Resistant varieties make the difference
between having enough to eat – or not
Excessive
rains and an increased presence of late blight disease devastated the Cusco
region of Peru in January-February 2010, which was declared a national
emergency area. The food security of communities in the Paucartambo province of
that region was maintained in large part thanks to two late blight resistant
potato varieties, called Pallay Poncho and Puka Lliclla, developed by the
International Potato Center.
“Three
years after their formal release, the yield of these two potatoes was about
8-times higher than any of the 150 native potato varieties grown by these
communities during this particularly wet season,” explains Stef de Haan, a
potato breeder at the Center (known by its Spanish acronym, CIP), adding “it
made the difference between having enough to eat or not.”
Source:
CIP:
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.38 “Chalky” discovery could increase value of
rice by 25%
The
Philippines
July 20,
2011
In a major
discovery, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) uncovered important
genetic information on what makes rice chalky - an undesirable trait that can
devalue the grain by up to 25%.
The
discovery could lead to higher quality “chalk-free” rice. A chalk-free rice has
higher milling recovery, which means better returns for farmers.
Chalk, the
white, opaque portion in rice, increases the chances of the rice grain breaking
when milled. This reduces the amount of rice recovered, and downgrades the
quality assessment rating of rice.
“Two things
cause chalkiness in a rice grain: genetics and environment,” explains Dr.
Melissa Fitzgerald, leader of IRRI’s grain quality and nutrition research.
Farmers
cannot answer for the genetics of rice; neither can they do anything about the
environment. But one thing is clear -farmers want to keep their grains
translucent and appealing to consumers to gain more from their field.
“Until now,
rice scientists did not know where in the rice genome the genes for chalkiness
resided,” asserts Dr. Fitzgerald. For more than 15 years, Dr. Fitzgerald has
been trying to understand what makes rice chalky because understanding this
will pave the way to creating chalk-free rice varieties.
“Currently,
there are only a few commercially available rice varieties that have genuinely
low chalkiness,” says Dr. Fitzgerald. “Our discovery can help us improve on
this.”
Dr.
Fitzgerald’s team, which includes Dr. Xiangqian Zhao, a postdoctoral research
fellow, Dr. Adoracion Resurreccion, Ms. Venea Dara Daygon, and Mr. Ferdinand
Salisi, worked with many lines of rice with different chalkiness properties.
In 2010,
crucial data from field tests in eight different countries each with different
growing environments came in. These field test results showed three groups of
rice: rice that was always very high in chalkiness, rice that varied in
chalkiness depending on the environment, and rice with extremely low chalk.
The third
group of rice,the extremely low chalky ones, were further analyzed. From this,
scientists were able to identify major regions in the rice genome, or candidate
genes, that are responsible for chalkiness. The discovery of these regions puts
IRRI scientists one step away from identifying the actual genes that give rice
its chalky trait.
“We are now
working with the extremely low-chalk rice to generate different breeding lines
to develop new chalk-free rice varieties,” declares Dr Zhao. “These can help
farmers increase the amount of edible rice they harvest, produce higher quality
rice, increase profit, and deliver higher quality rice to consumers.”
This
research is supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural
Research.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19160&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.39 Barley
defense system against powedery mildew
Powdery
mildew has been an all time fungal disease problem in cereal grains that lead
to huge yield losses worldwide. Researchers at the Technischen Universität
München (TUM) in Germany led by Ralph Hückelhoven, Chair of Phytopathology
found that a gene coding for a protein RACB in barley allows the invading
powdery mildew to get to the plant cell and infect. The protein expands the
surface of the plant cell membranes making it easier for the powdery mildew to
push its haustoria to take control of the plant.
However,
another protein in barley acts on the RACB disallowing fungal control in the
plant. The protein MAGAP1 was discovered to be a part of most of the plant
cell's cytoskeleton and network of protein fiber that strengthens plant cell
walls. The protein moves to the cell surface membrane during the fungal attack
and switches off the RACB's susceptibility factor, blocking the fungal
entrance. The research published in the journal Plant Cell is hoped "to
give a better understanding of the cause of diseases in the mid-term, to find
innovative approaches to maintaining the health of crops and grains by
enhancing their immunity," said Hückelhoven.
See the
news article at http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=33666
Source:
Crop Biotech Update 29 July 2011
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.40 Improving food safety of potato varieties
Scientists
at the Inner Mongolian University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the
USDA-ARS were able to reduce the activity of a single protein through gene
silencing that allowed for low-temperature storage of potato tubers without an
accumulation of sugars. In regular potatoes, these sugars undergo chemical
reactions during cooking, giving rise to dark-colored chips and fries due to
the presence of unhealthy acrylamide.
Results of
the study published in journal Crop Science showed that the modified potato has
improved lw temperature storage, thus spoilage-related potato waste can also be
reduced. Initial greenhouse and field evaluations show that the method does not
have negative effects on plant growth and yield.
For more
details, see the news at https://www.crops.org/news-media/releases/2011/0628/485/
Source:
Crop Biotech Update 01 July 2011
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.41 Scientists identify
maize proteins causing aflatoxin production
Aspergillus
flavus is a fungal pathogen in maize. Some strains can produce carcinogenic
aflatoxins, causing threat not just in the fields but also to the health of the
consumers. Maize lines with resistance to A. flavus have been identified but
the development of commercially-useful lines has been hindered by the lack of
breeding markers. Thus, Zhi-Yuan Chen of Louisiana State University
Agricultural Center in the U.S., together with other scientists, identified
maize resistance associated proteins (RAPs) which can be used as breeding
markers.
The
researchers analyzed a total of 52 lines developed from crossing African maize
inbreds and aflatoxin-resistant lines, and selected five pairs of
closely-related lines for proteomic investigation. Kernel embryo and endosperm
protein profiles were compared within the pair and across pairs through 2D
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.
Differentially
expressed RAPs were sequenced and identified as antifungal, stress-related,
storage or regulatory proteins. Further analysis led to identification of
several proteins in maize that confer resistance to A. flavus infection and/or
aflatoxin production.
Read the
complete report at http://www.springerlink.com/content/jp35774l4q2927q5/.
Source:
Crop Biotech Update 08 July 2011
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.42 University of Queensland plant biologists
identify a hormone that plays a key role in determining the size and shape of
plants
Queensland,
Australia
July 8,
2011
In an
important breakthrough, plant biologists at The University of Queensland (UQ)
have identified a hormone that plays a key role in determining the size and
shape of plants.
The
discovery of the hormone strigolactone could have enormous impact on the
forestry and horticultural industries, and is expected to lead to the ability
to custom design the shape of plants.
“Taller
plants can be produced by boosting strigolactone, and bushier plants can be
grown by suppressing the hormone,” UQ Associate Professor Dr Christine
Beveridge said.
“In the
case of fruit-producing trees where the yield comes from the branches,
repression of the chemical — that is, to create more branches — can give a
better harvest.”
A number of
factors work together to determine plant shape and size, but the discovery of
strigolactone's role in inhibiting branch development was important, Dr
Beveridge said, and paved the way for understanding the regulatory framework
behind plant development.
“It is
interesting that strigolactone uses a long-distance signaling process to determine
plant shoot branching,” Dr Beveridge said.
“Strigolactone's
capacity to have an impact on shoot branching will be conducive to obtaining a
desired shape in plants and is sure to prove beneficial in crop production.”
Dr
Beveridge, who is a Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council, said in
the forestry industry the hormone could be manipulated to inhibit branch
production and contribute to better stem growth and wood production.
Researchers
from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have detected a structurally
similar chemical called karrikins in smoke that affects the sprouting of
dormant seeds after fire.
Through
research done under a UQ-UWA Bilateral Research Collaboration Award, a gene
called MAX2 was found to control the functioning of both strigolactone and
karrikins.
Dr
Beveridge said despite the similarity in the structure of the two hormones and
their similar response systems, karrikins did not affect shoot branching.
Current
promising leads with these hormones on their chemistry and on other aspects of
plant development could result in improvements in the propagation of endangered
and economically important plant species and in weed eradication and
reforestation.
UQ's main
commercialisation company, UniQuest, is currently working towards
commercialisation opportunities for this technology.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18895&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
SeedQuest.com
1.43 Turbocharging a new Green Revolution with
improvements in photosynthesis
Plant scientists in
Cambridge have embarked on ambitious plans to improve crop yields by solving
one of the chief limitations of photosynthesis
Cambridge,
United Kingdom
July 2011
Wasteful,
inefficient, ‘relic of a bygone age’ – all indictments that have been levelled
at RuBisCO, the most abundant protein in nature and the heart of the reaction
that feeds life on Earth. The enzyme is the powerhouse behind photosynthesis,
responsible for taking CO2 from the atmosphere and using the sun’s energy to
convert it into the sugars that crops need to grow.
But, as its
full name, Ribulose 1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase, might suggest, the
enzyme has an unfortunate tendency to promiscuity. It evolved at a time when
the Earth’s atmosphere was very different to the 500-fold excess of O2 over CO2
that we have today and, as a result, it sometimes mistakes O2 for CO2, to the
detriment of potential plant productivity.
Plant
scientists such as Dr Julian Hibberd and Professor Howard Griffiths believe
that overcoming this inefficiency could be the key both to achieving a leap in
the amount of food or energy a plant can produce from the same amount of
sunlight and to revitalising the Green Revolution, which has been slowing as
the yields of elite cultivars approach their natural limits.
Nature’s
remedies
The
approaches taken by the two scientists aim to maximise the operating efficiency
of RuBisCO by turbocharging it with an increased concentration of CO2.
“Fortuitously,
some plants have developed such a turbocharger,” explained Professor Griffiths.
“Among them, certain land plants have an advanced type of photosynthesis termed
C4, and aquatic algae have developed mechanisms that actively concentrate
bicarbonate to provide a source of CO2 for the enzyme. Our research aims to
emulate what nature has already accomplished, for the benefit of future food security.”
The main
focus for Dr Hibberd is rice, a cereal grown in global regions where the
population is predicted to grow fastest. “About 60% of the world’s population
lives in Asia, where each hectare of land used for rice production currently
provides food for 27 people, but by 2050 will have to support at least 43
people,” he said.
“One way to
alleviate food shortages is to develop higher-yielding rice by reconfiguring
its photosynthetic pathway towards that used by land plants that have evolved
the upgraded version.”
Most of the
world’s plants produce a sugar with a 3-carbon skeleton in a process termed C3
photosynthesis. In fact, bacteria developed this means to convert light energy
into sugar about 3.4 billion years ago. Fast forward to a comparatively recent
30 million years ago, and the C4 pathway evolved, in which the initial CO2
fixation product is a 4-carbon organic acid. Today, C4 is found in 4% of plants
including maize and sugarcane, as well as in 14 of the world’s 18 worst weeds.
“Remarkably,
C4 photosynthesis has evolved independently in at least 62 lineages of plants,”
added Dr Hibberd. “We think it developed in response to selection pressures
such as low amounts of CO2, high temperatures and more arid conditions.”
Crucially,
C4 plants produce higher yields for the same amount of light energy, have
double the water-use efficiency of C3 plants, and their leaves use about 40%
less nitrogen to achieve 50% higher yields. A host of biochemical, cellular and
anatomical changes in the C4 plant result in a mechanism that first
concentrates CO2 and then supplies it to RuBisCO in the C3 pathway.
And therein
lies the challenge. To unpick the C4 apparatus and rebuild it in rice involves
literally dozens of genetic changes, as well as alterations to biochemical
reactions and even to the way the leaf is built. The project is requiring a
major scientific effort, called the C4 Rice Consortium, funded by $22 million
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Unpicking
and rebuilding
The C4 Rice
Consortium involves 12 partner institutions across four continents and is led
by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.
In the two
years since the project began, the Consortium members have been working on a
number of complementary approaches. Dr Hibberd’s team has been cloning genes
required for the biochemical reactions, and transgenic strains of rice that
express them are being grown at IRRI. Other groups are looking for C4 mutants
that have lost their leaf anatomy, and C3 mutants that have developed it; and a
vast gene sequencing screen is searching for new C4 genes.
Dr
Hibberd’s recent findings, published in Science magazine in April 2011, suggest
that genes present in C3 species can be recruited into cell-specific functions
in the C4 pathway without alterations to their gene sequence. “The discovery
dramatically alters the approaches being taken to engineer C4 photosynthesis,”
he explained. “These results suggest that it’s possible that only some parts of
the C4 pathway might be needed in rice for other parts to fall into place.”
IdeasLab
As steps
are taken to maximise plant productivity over the next century, there is a
pressing need to understand the determinants of RuBisCO operating efficiency
not just in land plants but also in algae. Algae use a carbon-concentrating
mechanism that is usually associated with a microcompartment called the
chloroplast pyrenoid. Although very little is known about their properties,
these structures drive a remarkable 15% of global carbon-based productivity.
To gain
insight into one of the most important, yet poorly understood, carbon sequestration
mechanisms, Professor Griffiths leads a new project recently funded as part of
an IdeasLab competition for the best minds from the USA and the UK to join
forces to explore improving photosynthetic yields.
The project
is one of two transatlantic IdeasLab collaborations involving Cambridge that
were awarded a total of Ł2.85 million from the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council and the US National Science Foundation. Dr Hibberd is
a member of the other collaboration, which is boosting RuBisCO using tricks to
enhance CO2 transport that are associated with other metabolic processes but
that, according to current knowledge, are not used in photosynthesis.
Professor
Griffiths explained how algal components could provide the answer to shaking up
a wasteful enzyme: “We’ve known for 30 years that the algal pyrenoid has solved
the problem of an inefficient RuBisCO enzyme, which probably evolved to help
algae survive in the lower levels of CO2 availability found in water. Our work
has investigated genetic changes in the model alga Chlamydomonas that can
determine whether the pyrenoid appears or not. The new project will have direct
applications for improving algal bioenergy productivity, as well as potential
implications for transforming higher plant crop yields by emulating the
carbon-concentrating mechanism in every photosynthetically active cell of the
plant.”
A longer
term solution
The
scientists are confident that now is a pivotal time for current progress in
understanding photosynthesis to be harnessed with genetic techniques and
traditional breeding resources to improve crop yields for the future.
Nevertheless, none of the projects is a trivial undertaking, as Dr Hibberd
explained: “We’re looking ahead to at least 15–20 years from now, to transform
crop production in the decades when the potential yield of current crops has
been exhaustively maximised.”
“For the
next generation, plant and microbial productivity will become the focus of key
global issues,” added Professor Griffiths. “It will be the basis for feeding an
additional two to three billion mouths, for maintaining biodiversity in the
face of climate change and for driving forward an economy currently trading on
past sunlight.”
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18900&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.44 Potato genome sequence is the cover story
in the journal Nature
July 10,
2011
The Potato
Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC), an international team of scientists,
focused on sequencing the genome of potato, has published its findings in the
international journal Nature as a
cover-story article. The PGSC, initiated in January 2006 by the Plant Breeding
Department of Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre) in the
Netherlands, soon developed into a global consortium of 29 research groups from
14 countries.
Potato is
the world's third most important food crop. It is a key member of the
Solanaceae family of plants and a close relative of tomato, pepper, and
eggplant. The potato genome sequence, the “genetic blueprint” of how a potato
plant grows and reproduces, will assist potato scientists and breeders improve
yield, quality, nutritional value and disease resistance of potato varieties, a
process that has been slow in this genetically complex crop. The potato genome
sequence will permit potato breeders to reduce the 10-12 years currently needed
to breed new varieties. The potato genome is the first sequence of an Asterid
to be published, a group of flowering plants encompassing around 25% of all
plant species.
In late
2009, the PGSC released a high quality draft sequence of the DM genome online.
Since that time the PGSC has been refining the genome assembly, as well as
performing exhaustive analysis and interpretation of the data. The genome
assembly covers approximately 95% of the genes in potato, and was facilitated
by new software developed by the BGI, one of the Chinese partners in the PGSC.
Analysis of
the genome sequence data has revealed that the potato genome contains
approximately 39,000 protein coding genes. For over 90% of the genes the
location on one of the 12 chromosomes is now known. The analysis also reveals
that the potato genome has undergone extensive genome duplication though
evolution. Potato is an outbreeding crop plant, and comparisons of DM and RH
data shed light on the phenomenon of inbreeding depression, from which potato
suffers acutely. The data also show clear evidence for how expansion of
particular gene families has contributed to the evolution of the potato tuber –
the edible storage organ that is the most striking feature of this important
and fascinating plant.
The potato
genome assembly and other resources are now available in the public domain at www.potatogenome.net, where
a complete listing and contact details for all PGSC members can be found.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18939&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
1.45 Simple little spud helps scientists crack
potato's mighty genome
The Potato
Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC), a team of scientists from institutions worldwide,
has published its findings in the Sunday July 10 online issue of the journal
Nature. The successful sequencing of the genome of the world's third most
important crop began when Richard Veilleux, who is the Julian and Margaret Gary
Professor of Horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at
Virginia Tech, wondered if the then new applications of plant tissue culture
could be used to develop parent lines for hybrid potatoes. The concept was
developed from his doctoral research, completed in 1981 at the University of
Minnesota.
Since
potatoes do not self-pollinate, Veilleux engineered inbred lines from immature
pollen extracted from flower buds by using plant tissue culture. The result,
potato plants with half the chromosomes of the parent, was completely sterile.
"Their chromosomes have to be doubled, up to 24, which results in plants
with completely identical pairs of chromosomes – a homozygous inbred
line," said Veilleux. "In one cycle, you have accomplished what it
takes five generations to do to create a maize inbred line the old-fashioned
way."
Veilleux's
original potatoes actually came from South America – a diploid species called
phureja that produces potatoes of many colors, textures, and tastes. Now,
the sequence of Veilleux's little potato will be used as a draft against which
the genome sequences of more complicated tubers will be compared.
"Sequencing technology is getting better, and now that we have sequenced
this one potato, it is kind of easy," he said. "There are all kinds
of spinoff studies that can be done, such as looking at the DNA sequence
variation in the genomes of different kinds of potatoes.
Read more
at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-07/vt-sls071111.php
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.46 Penn State University's corn geneticist
gets $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation for gene
research
University
Park, Pennsylvania, USA
July 13,
2011
The
molecular mechanisms that control genetic modifications in specific tissues
during plant development are the focus of a National Science Foundation grant
for $1.2 million to Surinder Chopra, associate professor of maize genetics in
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
The
three-year project is a collaborative effort with the University of Delaware,
which will provide training opportunities in plant epigenetics and the study of
variation of plant genes. Epigenetics studies the situation when genes'
functions are modified without any change in their DNA sequences, sometimes
creating silent genes whose characteristics are not expressed in the organism.
The
research aims to produce the means for scientists to make precise genetic
modifications in plants, Chopra explained. "Crop improvement is brought
about by the use of genetic and breeding strategies that allow combination of
genes from different parental lines into new germplasm --inbred lines and then
hybrids," he said. "The key to the success of a new hybrid is the
stable inheritance of its traits -- or genes. However, genes that eventually
become silent because of unknown epigenetic modifications lead to a breakdown
of the cultivar. This research will allow us to identify genes in the maize
plant that are candidates for epigenetic gene silencing."
After
researchers learn about these genes and their regulation, Chopra noted, the
process of genetic modification by plant breeding will become more effective
and efficient because scientists can select required alleles of genes that can
be stably inherited over generations.
Genes
"express" in different parts of the plant, depending upon the
proteins needed in those tissues, Chopra pointed out. Regulation of gene
expression in higher living organisms -- including plants -- is controlled by
molecular mechanisms, which can restrict the expression to a specific signal,
developmental stage, tissue or cell.
"So,
when a gene's expression is not needed, the gene can be shut down -- called
gene silencing -- by regulatory mechanisms."
The
research will build a basic understanding of what causes the instability of
genes, Chopra said. "This project is focused on understanding the function
of genetic modifiers that regulate gene expression via epigenetic pathways.
Such modifiers can then be used in breeding programs for specific agronomic
traits."
The project
will also undertake a genome-wide search to find all the genes that are
epigenetically affected in certain maize lines.
Penn State
graduate students PoHao Wang, Kameron Wittmeyer and Nur Suhadha are using
genetic and molecular techniques to identify and map epigenetic factors. A
number of graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows at both
institutions will work with faculty. They will be cross-trained in
computational biological aspects and epigenetic gene regulation, according to
Chopra.
Students
will learn classical and cutting-edge plant-biology techniques that are used to
understand and dissect the molecular basis of regulation of tissue-specific
gene expression.
In
addition, as part of the project, high school students and teachers will
participate in a summer biotechnology workshop to learn gene-expression
techniques in maize.
"The
study of gene-expression stability and instability allows us to understand how
different plant traits are inherited and how plants cope with different
environmental stresses," Chopra said. "After all, environment has a
big influence on plant gene-expression modifications, and some of these
influences are via epigenetic changes that are transmitted for multiple
generations."
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19125&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.47 Plant immunity discovery boosts chances
of disease-resistant crops
Warwick,
United Kingdom
July 28,
2011
Researchers
at the University of Warwick funded by the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have opened up the black box of plant immune
system genetics, boosting our ability to produce disease- and pest-resistant
crops in the future. The research is published this evening (28 July) in the
journal Science.
An
international consortium of researchers, including Professor Jim Beynon at the
University of Warwick, has used a systems biology approach to uncover a huge
network of genes that all play a part in defending plants against attacks from
pests and diseases - a discovery that will make it possible to explore new
avenues for crop improvement and in doing so ensure future food security.
Professor
Beynon said "Plants have a basic defence system to keep out potentially
dangerous organisms. Unfortunately some of these organisms have, over time,
evolved the ability to overcome plant defences and so plant breeders are always
looking for new ways to catch them out. Understanding exactly how plant
immunity works is key to making developments in this area."
Professor
Beynon's team looked at downy mildew as an example of a plant disease. This is
caused by mould-like organism called Hyaloperonospora parasitica, which, like
many organisms that infect plants, produces proteins that it introduces into
the plant to undermine its natural defences.
The team
studied almost 100 different so-called effector proteins from Hyaloperonospora
parasitica that are known to be involved in overcoming a plant's immune system.
They were looking to see how each of these proteins has an effect through
interaction with other proteins that are already present in a plant. They found
a total of 122 plant proteins from the commonly-studied plant Arabidopsis
thaliana that are directly targeted by the proteins from Hyaloperonospora
parasitica.
Professor
Beynon continued "This shows that there are many more plant proteins
involved in immunity than we first thought. By studying the genes that give
rise to these proteins we can start to identify key genetic targets for crop
improvement."
The study
has also identified many complex connections between the plant proteins
suggesting that the network of activity is crucial in plant defences.
Professor
Beynon concluded "Our discovery suggests that looking for single genes
that confer resistance to pests and diseases is not going to be sufficient.
Instead, researchers and breeders will have to work together to produce plants
with robust networks of genes that can withstand attack."
Professor
Douglas Kell, Chief Executive, BBSRC said "Understanding the fundamental
bioscience of plants is critical if we are to develop new ways of producing
sustainable, safe, and nutritious food for a growing population. This discovery
opens up a whole realm of possibilities in research about plant-pathogen
interactions. It also points the way to new ways of working in this area; with
a complex network operating behind the scenes in plant immunity, there is a
clear need to take a systems approach to future research."
The work
was a collaboration between Pascal Braun and Marc Vidal of the Dana Faber
Institute, Boston, and Jeff Dangl, University of North Carolina, USA. It also
involved a European consortium including Jonathan Jones, The Sainsbury
Laboratory, Norwich; Guido van den Ackerveken, Utrecht University; and Jane
Parker, Max Planck Institute, Cologne.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19399&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.48 Breeding procedure accelerates winter
wheat development
Scientists
at South Dakota State University (SDSU) implemented an innovative plant
breeding technique to lessen the time needed to produce winter wheat varieties
for farmers in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America.
To produce
doubled-haploid plants, breeders are pollinating wheat plants with corn. The
offspring is not genetically modified because the corn chromosomes are
transferred by pollination and are biologically eliminated during development
of the wheat plants. Thus, the corn chromosomes just act as placeholders that
will be replaced by the wheat plant's own chromosomes during the production of
doubled-haploids.
"I
would say in the traditional way, on average, we're probably talking 10 to 12
years from the initial cross to the final release of the variety. It could even
be longer than that," said Bill Berzonsky, leader of SDSU's winter wheat
breeding project. "With this technique, my estimation is that it probably
cuts off maybe one to two years from the process. You'd think it would cut off
a lot more than that but we still need to test the doubled-haploid lines
extensively in the field."
The
complete story is available at http://www.sdstate.edu/news/featurestories/wheat-breeding.cfm.
Source:
Crop Biotech Update 15 July 2011
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.49 Chinese scientists isolate a multi-stress
responsive gene
Biotic and
abiotic factors can have significant impacts on plant growth and development.
To identify new stress-tolerance genes in rice (Oryza sativa L.), Yunyun Jiang
and colleagues at the Sichuan Agricultural University in China analyzed a
global genome expression profiling of the indica cultivar called Peo'ai 64S.
The researchers used Affymetrix rice expression chip exposed to cold, drought,
and heat stress.
Several
genes were found to be up regulated and some were down regulated under stress.
One particular gene, the O. sativa L. protein phosphatase2C-l (OsPP2C1) was
highly induced in leaf and panicle at the heading and flowering stages in all
stresses. Through microarray analysis, the expression profile of OsPP2C1 was
obtained and was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The two sets
of data matched very well, implying that the gene is a multi-stress sensitive
gene in rice. Further analyses of the gene's function confirmed that OsPP2C1 is
a novel candidate gene involved in stress tolerance in rice.
The
research article is available at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJB/abstracts/abs2011/20Jul/Jiang%20et%20al.htm.
Source:
Crop Biotech Update 22 July 2011
Contributed
by Margaret E. Smith
Department
of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University
Mes25@cornell.edu
1.50 Doubled haploid technology brings promise
to wheat breeders
By Jennifer
M. Latzke
Tucked away
in a few small labs and greenhouse spaces, in Throckmorton Hall on the Kansas
State University campus, scientists with Heartland Plant Innovations are
bringing about a revolution in wheat breeding efficiency.
For decades
wheat breeders have had one overwhelming limitation to their programs--time.
But, with HPI's new Wheat Doubled Haploid laboratory, time may no longer be the
limitation it used to be for the discovery of new and improved wheat varieties.
Trimming
time
Traditionally,
wheat breeders identify two parental lines that they believe have potential and
breed them for a better offspring variety. With traditional breeding, plants
receive half of their chromosomes from each parent plant. Then, through
inbreeding, scientists eventually get a plant that is completely homozygous.
From the first cross to the finished pure new wheat variety, the traditional
process can take up to 12 years. And seven of those years are devoted to just
inbreeding the wheat so that breeders find a genetically pure, true breeding
line to evaluate.
But, at
HPI's new Wheat Doubled Haploid laboratory, a technology for corn breeders has
been adapted for wheat and is drastically reducing the time from first cross to
pure line--from the typical six to eight generations to one.
In doubled
haploid breeding, plants are manipulated so that they have two copies of each
chromosome and are essentially a clone of the gamete used. The haploid genome
of the gamete, when doubled, results in a plant with a complete genome with two
identical copies of every gene. Doubled haploids are homozygous at every
locus--in one generation, versus six or more generations in conventional
inbreeding programs. This helps wheat breeders trying to identify and isolate
valuable new traits for future varieties.
"Doubled
haploid breeding can speed up the discovery of new genes," said Forrest
Chumley, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of HPI. "Breeders
can compare traits in lines quicker, using genetic markers and develop lines
quicker."
Last fall
HPI brought Chenggen Chu, Ph.D., from North Dakota to head its new Doubled
Haploid lab, the key component of its Advanced Plant Breeding Services
business. Chumley explained that while many companies use doubled haploid
breeding techniques in their own breeding programs, HPI's doubled haploid
program is the first to help public and private wheat breeders. HPI's customers
include public wheat breeders from Kansas State University, and public breeding
programs all over the Great Plains.
And, this
June, the first seed lines to successfully undergo doubled haploid breeding
were delivered to public wheat breeders.
Fooling
Mother Nature
The doubled
haploid process takes about nine months, from the time the doubled haploid
lines are ordered to their delivery, Chu explained. HPI uses the "wheat x
corn method," because it is more efficient and more successful, Chumley
added. Currently, HPI is only working with winter wheats, but the method can
also be used on durum wheats, sorghum and barley.
The work
begins when a customer sends a batch of F1 seeds from the crossbreeding of two
parent plants to HPI. The F1 seeds are grown in the greenhouse to the flowering
stage, where Chu and his staff begin the process of emasculating the flowers.
They cut the tips of the flowers on the head, and pull out the male anthers,
which are practically microscopic. This leaves the flower with just the female
portion of chromosomes, Chumley explained.
Chu then
takes fresh corn pollen, which is grown in a nearby greenhouse. The alien corn
pollen is shaken onto the wheat flowers a few days after emasculation.
"The pollen tricks the egg into becoming an embryo," Chu said. It
won't, though, pass on any corn genetics to the wheat. Since the wheat egg only
has half of the chromosomes it needs at this point, if left on its own it won't
develop into a viable seed. So, Chu applies a dose of 2,4-D to the wheat the
next day.
The 2,4-D,
Chumley explained, works as a growth stimulant in the wheat and the wheat
develops a seed.
The work
doesn't stop there, though. Chumley and Chu added that that seed is a haploid
that doesn't have a functional endosperm, which means that it won't survive if
planted in soil like a typical wheat seed. So, Chu and his workers will cut the
embryos from those developing seeds about two weeks into their development.
These rescued embryos are microscopic and it takes a deft touch, Chumley said.
They're placed in test tubes in a growth medium and put into a dark cooler for
about five days until the embryos start germinating and small roots and shoots
start forming.
From there,
they're moved to a warmer environment and allowed fluorescent light for two
weeks. After this vernalization the plants are transferred to a soil medium for
further growth. These haploid seedlings still won't make viable seeds if left
on their own, so Chu has to treat them with a substance called
"colchicine."
"Colchicine
was developed as a cancer drug," Chumley said. It prevents cell division
by stopping the spindle mechanism in the developing cell. It "pulls
apart" the chromosomes and creates a mix of haploid and doubled haploid
cells. After this treatment, the plants will be planted in soil, grown in a
greenhouse and allowed to develop doubled haploid seeds, which will then be
sent back to the wheat breeders for further study.
Wheat
whisperer
The doubled
haploid process is time consuming and more delicate than traditional breeding.
It takes a special touch to get viable wheat, which is why HPI brought Chu to
its Manhattan, Kan., facility.
Chu is
known for his skill as a "wheat whisperer," Chumley said, because of
his innate sense at each stage of the process. "When we emasculate about
100 flowers, we get at least 40 viable embryos," Chumley said. Most
programs get a return of 30 percent, and Chumley attributes HPI's success to
Chu's touch.
Despite the
extra care this breeding technology takes, it will be a valuable tool for
future developments in wheat, Chumley said. It also works well with the genomic
selection that HPI is promoting in its wheat breeding efforts. Breeders can use
a synergy of the methods, Chumley said, to integrate individual traits into
wheat varieties they develop in the future--without the time of inbreeding and
backcrossing.
The doubled
haploid breeding is also a tidy profit generator for HPI, which is a
public-private, for-profit collaboration with private investors and public
funds through the Kansas Bioscience Authority. Currently, Chumley said, HPI has
taken orders for 7,500 doubled haploid lines, with the hopes of expanding the
number of lines they're breeding at a time to 25,000 or 50,000 per year once
HPI moves into its new facility, the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center, in
Manhattan.
"Right
now, we are limited in how many numbers of doubled haploid lines we can develop
because of our limited space," Chumley said. "Our lease with K-State
runs out June 30, 2012, which is about the time we should get into the new
building. KSU has been extremely helpful and supportive of HPI."
HPI
contracts delivery of a minimum of 10 doubled haploid lines for every F1 seed,
and a minimum of 20 seeds per doubled haploid line. At a price of $30 per line,
it's just enough to cover costs and provide a return, Chumley said.
But, the
extra value is in the development of wheats that will help farmers and end
users, five and six years sooner than traditional breeding allows, Chumley
said. Wheat is a big economic driver in Kansas, he added. As a KBA Center of
Innovation, HPI has a goal to use science and technology to improve
agriculture's value in the state.
And, in
those small labs and greenhouses, the revolutionary work of Chu and his staff
is making that goal a reality today.
Jennifer M.
Latzke can be reached at 620-227-1807, or jlatzke@hpj.com.
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.51 Evolution and domestication of seed
structure shown to use same genetic mutation
Norwich,
United Kingdom
7 July 2011
For the
first time, scientists have identified a mutation in plants that was selected
twice - during both natural evolution and domestication.
The
mutation has been identified as the source of variation in the evolution of
fruit morphology in Brassica plants and it was also the source of key changes during
the domestication of rice.
"We
have shown that the genetic source of both natural and man-made changes was the
same," said one of the authors on the findings, Dr Robert Sablowski from
the John Innes Centre, which is strategically funded by the BBSRC.
"These
insights indicate that evolutionary development may have more to offer plant
breeders than previously anticipated," he said.
Wild rice
scatters its seeds easily to maximise dispersal, so an important part of
domestication was to select for cultivars that retain seeds that can then be
harvested. Previous studies identified the mutation - a single nucleotide
change - that reduced seed dispersal. John Innes Centre scientists were
surprised to find that the same nucleotide change was behind variation in the
evolution of fruit morphology in the Brassica plants.
The
Brassica family and rice are separated by 140 million years of evolution and
the anatomies of their fruit are very different. However, this work, published
in the journal Current Biology, shows that the same genetic tools are
applicable over a large evolutionary distance and that evolution can offer
insights into the tools that might be useful to breeders.
"Ever
since Darwin used domestication as a model for evolution there has been debate
over whether the same type of variation is relevant to both domestication and
natural evolution," said Dr Sablowski.
"In
this study we have shown that the same type of variation is relevant to both
processes. In addition, we saw that a surprisingly simple genetic change is
enough to explain differences between the fruits of different Brassica
relatives. Now further examples will be needed to show whether the simplicity
of the regulatory change in our case is exceptional."
Reference:
Řstergaard et al.
"The
Same Regulatory Point Mutation Changed Seed-Dispersal Structures in Evolution
and Domestication"
Current
Biology 21(14) Publishing in Current Biology - July 26, 2011
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=18879&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
1.52 Editing the genome - Scientists unveil
new tools for rewriting the code of life
Boston,
Massachusetts, USA
July 14,
2011
Researchers
in the lab of HMS Professor of Genetics George Church describe a strategy for
reassigning all 314 TAG codons to TAA in E. coli using new genome engineering technologies
that fundamentally re-engineer genomes from the nucleotide to the megabase
scale. Multiplex automated genome engineering (MAGE) was used to convert all
TAG codons to TAA codons. Hierarchical conjugative assembly genome engineering
(CAGE) was used to assemble codon changes into higher ordered strains. Image
courtesy of F.J. Isaacs et. al.
The power
to edit genes is as revolutionary, immediately useful and unlimited in its
potential as was Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press. And like Gutenberg’s
invention, most DNA editing tools are slow, expensive, and hard to use—a
brilliant technology in its infancy. Now, Harvard researchers developing
genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten
the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and
replace—and combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different
from their forebears.
“The payoff
doesn’t really come from making a copy of something that already exists,” said George Church, a
professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School who led the research effort in
collaboration with Joe Jacobson, an associate professor at the Media Lab at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “You have to change it—functionally and
radically.”
Such
change, Church said, serves three goals. The first is to add functionality to a
cell by encoding for useful new amino acids. The second is to introduce
safeguards that prevent cross-contamination between modified organisms and the
wild. A third, related aim, is to establish multi-viral resistance by rewriting
code hijacked by viruses. In industries that cultivate bacteria, including
pharmaceuticals and energy, such viruses affect up to 20 percent of cultures. A
notable example afflicted the biotech company Genzyme, where estimates of
losses due to viral contamination range from a few hundred million dollars to
more than $1 billion.
In a paper to
be published July 15 in Science, the researchers describe how they replaced
instances of a codon — a DNA “word” of three nucleotide letters — in 32 strains
of E. coli, and then coaxed those partially-edited strains along an
evolutionary path toward a single cell line in which all 314 instances of the
codon had been replaced. That many edits surpasses current methods by two
orders of magnitude, said Harris Wang, a research fellow in Church’s lab at the
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering who shares lead-author
credit on the paper with Farren
Isaacs, an assistant professor of molecular, cellular and developmental
biology at Yale University and former Harvard research fellow, and Peter Carr,
a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab.
Frequency
map of MAGE-generated TAG::TAA codon replacements across the E. coli genome at
each TAG codon replacement position. Frequency of TAG::TAA replacements by MAGE
across all TAG codons denoted by height- and color-coded bars. Image courtesy
of F.J. Isaacs et. al.
In the
genetic code, most codons specify an amino acid, a protein building block. But
a few codons tell the cell when to stop adding amino acids to a protein chain,
and it was one of these “stop” codons that the Harvard researchers targeted.
With just 314 occurrences, the TAG stop codon is the rarest word in the E. coli
genome, making it a prime target for replacement. Using a platform called
multiplex automated genome engineering, or MAGE, the team replaced instances of
the TAG codon with another stop codon, TAA, in living E. coli cells. (Unveiled
by the team in 2009 (Nature 460, 894-898), the MAGE process has been called an evolution machine for its ability to accelerate targeted genetic
change in living cells.)
While MAGE,
a small-scale engineering process, yielded cells in which TAA codons replaced
some but not all TAG codons, the team constructed 32 strains that, taken
together, included every possible TAA replacement. Then, using bacteria’s
innate ability to trade genes through a process called conjugation, the
researchers induced the cells to transfer genes containing TAA codons at
increasingly larger scales. The new method, called conjugative assembly genome
engineering, or CAGE, resembles a playoff bracket—a hierarchy that winnows 16
pairs to eight to four to two to one—with each round’s winner possessing more
TAA codons and fewer TAG, explains Isaacs, who invokes “March Madness.”
“We’re
testing decades-old theories on the conservation of the genetic code,” Isaacs
said. “And we’re showing on a genome-wide scale that we’re able to make these
changes.”
Eager to
share their enabling technology, the team published their results as CAGE
reached the semifinal round. Results suggested that the final four strains were
healthy, even as the team assembled four groups of 80 engineered alterations
into stretches of the chromosome surpassing 1 million DNA base pairs. “We
encountered a great deal of skepticism early on that we could make so many
changes and preserve the health of these cells,” Carr said. “But that’s what
we’ve seen.”
The researchers
are confident that they will create a single strain in which TAG codons are
completely eliminated. The next step, they say, is to delete the cell’s
machinery that reads the TAG gene — freeing up the codon for a completely new
purpose, such as encoding a novel amino acid.
“We’re
trying to challenge people,” Wang said, “to think about the genome as something
that’s highly malleable, highly editable.”
This
research was funded by U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science
Foundation. Principal investigator George Church discloses his tech transfer,
advisory and funding relationships at arep.med.harvard.edu/gmc/tech.html.
Science 15
July 2011:
Vol. 333
no. 6040 pp. 348-353
DOI:
10.1126/science.1205822
Report
Precise
Manipulation of Chromosomes in Vivo Enables Genome-Wide Codon Replacement
Farren J.
Isaacs, Peter A. Carr, Harris H. Wang, Marc J. Lajoie, Bram Sterling, Laurens
Kraal, Andrew C. Tolonen, Tara A. Gianoulis, Daniel B. Goodman, Nikos B.
Reppas, Christopher J. Emig, Duhee Bang, Samuel J. Hwang, Michael C. Jewett,
Joseph M. Jacobson, George M. Church
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19057&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
=========================
2.01 Seed Biotechnology, UCD Annual Report now
available
The Seed
Biotechnology Center has a newly designed annual report. The report captures our education, outreach and
research activities during 2010, with an emphasis on education and the
importance of partnerships. Comments from Director Kent Bradford open the
report. Mike Campbell’s “A Glance at the Future” closes the piece.
We hope you enjoy this new document which was designed and produced by Donna
Van Dolah. We welcome your feedback and comments.
2.02 News Books
released at the Brazilian Plant Breeding Congress:
(Plant Breeding for Abiotic Stresses): Roberto
Fritsche-Neto and Aluizio Borem (ed.). 2011 250pgs. ISBN: 978.85.60249.89-3,
Suprema Press: http://www.editoraufv.com.br/produtos/melhoramento-de-plantas-para-condicoes-de-estresses-abioticos
Milho
Biofortificado (Biofortificated Maize): Aluizio Borem and Sara
A. Rios (ed.). 2011. 211 pgs. ISBN: 978856024980-0, Suprema Press: http://www.editoraufv.com.br/produtos/milho-biofortificado
Plantas
Geneticamente Modificadas (Genetically Modified Plants): Aluizio Borem and
Gustavo D. Almeida (ed.). 2011, ISBN: 978.85.60249.81-7, Suprema Press: http://www.editoraufv.com.br/produtos/plantas-geneticamente-modificadas
Contributed
by Aluizio Borem
Universidade
Federal de Vicosa
3.
3.01 International knowledge hub to link
climate change and food security research
United
Kingdom
13 July
2011
BBSRC-funded
researchers are invited to join a virtual knowledge hub in the area of
agriculture, food security and climate change. This is under a new European
Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) jointly led by BBSRC and the French National
Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).
A programme
of research will be enabled by the FACCE (Food security, Agriculture and
Climate ChangE) Knowledge Hub, which brings together major European modellers
in the areas of crops, livestock and trade to look at how climate variability
and change impact on these models. Interested research groups, with BBSRC
current funding in this area, are invited to express their willingness to join
the hub (see notes).
This is
part of the Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change JPI, which is
designed to align national programming around these major global challenges. EU
member states and associated countries work together under the JPI to a common
vision and strategic research agenda. Partners will fund coordination costs to
join the knowledge hub aimed at producing a detailed climate change risk
assessment for European agriculture and food security.
Professor
Douglas Kell, Chief Executive, BBSRC said "International collaborations
allow us to ensure that we are able to tackle the greatest global challenges we
face. We are working strategically with our partners in the area of climate
change, agriculture and food security. Through this we have the opportunity to
ensure the gaps in our knowledge are filled; duplication of effort is avoided;
and as a whole community of researchers we have a critical mass of people,
skills, knowledge, and resources that is necessary to make progress in this
area."
The
duration of the Knowledge Hub will be 3 years for a first phase, followed by an
evaluation with a perspective of a two year extension, subject to a successful
review and budget availability. In the first stage, interested research groups
will send a letter of intent in English, expressing their willingness to join
the Knowledge Hub.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19024&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source: SeedQuest.com
3.02 Potential
of agricultural technologies survey
July 18,
2011
IFPRI is
currently conducting a project entitled "How to achieve food security in a
world of growing scarcity: role of technology development strategies”. The goal
is to assess the impact of a range of technologies on crop production and
yields; production costs; soil and water quality; on-farm incomes; and the use
of water, energy, and other resources.
As part of
this project, we have put together a survey directed to experts in agricultural
technology, agricultural ecology, crop management practices, crop breeding and
agricultural economics to collect information about the potential of
agricultural technologies (in the broader sense of the word, including
agricultural practices) in the different regions of the world.
Among the
respondents who complete the survey before July 31, two lucky winners will
receive an iPad 2. Please do not forget to enter your contact information on
the first page of the survey to participate in the draw for the iPads 2’s. Only
completed questionnaires will be selected for the draw.
The survey
focuses on 3 crops: wheat, maize and rice, and on the following technologies:
- Zero
tillage
- Integrated
soil fertility management (combinations of chemical fertilizers + residues
+ manure/compost)
- Irrigation
technologies (furrow; drip and sprinkler)
- Water
harvesting (channeling water from a macrocatchment, microcatchment
systems, earth dams, chaukas and nadis structures, ridges, graded contours
etc.)
- Genetically
modified crops (heat/drought tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency)
- Conventional
breeding (heat/drought tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency)
- Precision
agriculture (GPS-assisted delivery of agricultural inputs)
- Laser
land leveling (leveling a field within certain degrees of desired slope
using a guided laser beam to improve water use efficiency)
- Organic
agriculture (use of manufactured fertilizers, pesticides, growth
regulators and GMOs excluded / strictly limited)
We would be
extremely grateful if you could fill out this survey and/or share the survey
link with knowledgeable colleagues.
Each
respondent will receive a synthesis of the results, and your contribution will
be acknowledged in any publication that may result from the use of these data,
if you so wish.
The survey
can be accessed at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VF98K3P
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19128&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
3.03 The Bitter Gourd
Project opens a website to provide news and information about this valuable
vegetable
Shanhua,
Taiwan
July
21, 2011
Add bitter
gourd as the latest member of the very exclusive club of vegetables that have
their own Internet domains.
The Bitter
Gourd Project, a not-for-profit, multidisciplinary and multinational
collaborative project to improve the incomes and health of the poor in
developing countries—particularly the quality of life of diabetics—through
scientific research on bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.), opened a website
to provide news and information about this valuable vegetable.
The site
can be accessed at: http://www.bitter-gourd.org
The
three-year project, led by AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center and funded by the
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany,
started in March 2011. Research activities are underway at AVRDC’s Taiwan
headquarters and in the Center’s Africa, South Asia, and East and Southeast
Asia offices; Avinashilingam Deemed University for Women, Comibatore, India;
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana India; Justus-Liebig University,
Giessen, Germany; Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi, Tanzania; and
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
The website
prepared by Jen Wen Luoh, AVRDC Community Nutrition Specialist, serves as a
collection and dissemination point for research, project updates, news reports,
events, and other items of interest about bitter gourd. The site’s photo
gallery offers a closer look at the warty gourd that may hold the promise of
better health for diabetics. On the site’s public forum, all interested
visitors can engage in discussions about growing and using bitter gourd and
share recipes to promote consumption.
Today, 285
million people in the world live with diabetes, and 80% of those are in low-
and middle-income countries. By 2030, about 4.5% (more than 370 million) of the
world’s population will suffer from Type 2 diabetes. India has the highest
number of diabetics, with 31.7 million in 2000 and a projected 79.4 million by
2030. The diabetes epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest growing
in the world, increasing 2.6 fold in 30 years.
There is no
cure for diabetes, but the quality of life of people with diabetes depends on
effective blood glucose control. Effective treatment includes proper diet,
weight control, exercise, and medicine.
Chinese,
Ayurvedic, and other traditional folk medicine practices have long used bitter
gourd to treat Type 2 diabetes and other ailments. Previous studies with
animals and humans suggest bitter gourd (whole fruit, juice, or extract) does
have a role in diets for glycemic control of diabetes. However, the antidiabetic
effect of bitter gourd results from the complex action of multiple compounds in
the fruit. Further studies are required to provide sufficient evidence to
confidently recommend bitter gourd for managing Type 2 diabetes.
The
nutritionists, plant breeders, medical doctors, and social scientists working
on the Bitter Gourd Project hope to optimize the level of antidiabetic
compounds in the vegetable through varietal selection and postharvest practices
and preparation methods, and then develop evidence-based dietary strategies to
assist diabetics in Asia and Africa.
http://www.seedquest.com/news.php?type=news&id_article=19213&id_region=&id_category=&id_crop=
Source:
SeedQuest.com
3.04 Biotechnology for Sustainability
Genetically
engineered (GE) crops have been in commercial production since 1996 and much
information is available regarding ways they are benefiting farmers and
consumers. As global agriculture continues to be challenged to enhance
sustainability and reduce pressures on land, water and fuel, studies are
showing that GE crops will be one part of the solution. To date, research has
been conducted on over 100 agricultural crops and many new promising traits
have been identified. As part of a grant from the American Society of Plant
Biologists, SBC has developed a website dedicated to the theme of Biotechnology for Sustainability. Here you will
find information on the 5 most promising GE traits, recent peer-reviewed
publications, and useful websites and opinion pieces on this topic. We hope
this will provide a useful reference on how biotech traits are enhancing environmental
sustainability.
3.05 Wheat Atlas – a
hub for wheat data sharing
CIMMYT, the international wheat and improvement centre (www.cimmyt.org),
has developed a beta version of what should become a primary source of data for
wheat scientists, policy makers and business leaders.
As described on the homepage, ‘Wheat Atlas is an online portal to
relevant, accessible information on wheat production, markets and research,
particularly in the developing world. The information is geographically
organized, and can be visualized using interactive maps and charts. Wheat Atlas
is under ongoing development to create a comprehensive one-stop-shop for wheat
scientists, policy makers, business leaders, and anyone interested in wheat,
with increasingly collaborative and dynamic data-sharing.’
The Wheat
Atlas is available in multiple languages via automated Google translate, has data
arranged by country for wheat statistics as well as definitions of
mega-environments. Furthermore, Wheat Atlas holds searchable online databases
of wheat varieties, stresses and nurseries, with data gathered from
collaborators & stations worldwide.
Wheat Atlas
also utilizes GIS tools and has links and resources to other relevant online
data sources.
Additions
soon to be implemented include online training videos of how to use the site
and future enhancements will include a directory of all wheat related
institutions and a ‘hall of fame’.
For
questions/comments/suggestions regarding Wheat Atlas please email: Dr. Petr
Kosina, p.kosina@cgiar.org
Contributed
by Ashiyan Rahmani
Wheat Atlas
Intern/Consultant
CIMMYT
(International Maize & Wheat Improvement Center)
4.01 Fellowships: Contemporary
approaches to genetic resources conservation and use’ in the context of climate
change
We have the pleasure of reminding you that there is still an opportunity
to apply for fellowships for the training programme ‘Contemporary approaches
to genetic resources conservation and use’ in the context of climate change,
for either of the modules: ‘Genetic resource policy and management
strategies’ or ‘Integrated seed sector development’, in the
Netherlands (16 April – 4 May 2012).
Professional breeding, commercialization and globalization of food
markets have resulted in a narrowing of crop genetic diversity and a reduction
in the range of crops cultivated in agricultural systems. This loss of genetic
resources has caused major concerns about future food and nutrition security
and the vulnerability of agricultural systems towards pests and diseases, in
particular, in the context of climate change. Together with the importance
placed on the recognition of intellectual property rights, this topic is being
pushed towards the top of international development and biodiversity
conservation agendas.
The objective of the training module Genetic resource policy and
management strategies is to enhance participants’ capabilities to more
effectively manage plant genetic resource conservation programmes and to apply
various strategies to support the sustainable use of genetic resources.
The training focuses on following topics:
- gene flows, economic interests, international
agreements, access and benefit-sharing, farmers' rights, and intellectual
property rights
- perspectives, concepts and
strategies regarding the conservation and
use of genetic resources, complementarity of in situ
and ex situ approaches, promotion of resource utilization,
participatory plant breeding methods, role of
documentation, opportunities for biotechnology applications
- good practices for collecting materials,
regeneration, storage, and genebank economics
4.02 Deadline for fellowship application to the Netherlands Fellowship Programme is OCTOBER 1st,
2011 through Fellowships for Short Courses on Scholarship Online (SOL).
Please take note of the changed procedure (you do not have to visit the
Netherlands Embassy anymore for your application), which is now done online. We
strongly suggest you to apply in time. The online registration may take
some time; please consult the CDI application
procedures, the SOL user manual for
applicants and visit the FAQs section.
Simultaneously apply at CDI and Scholarship Online (SOL); the procedure is explained through the links above.
Please make use of this unique training opportunity to interact with
peers in your field of expertise and interest from all over the world!
With kind regards,
Gareth Borman and Marja Thijssen
|
Centre
for Development Innovation Wageningen
UR P.O. Box
88, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands Tel. : +31 (0)317 486800 (reception) Fax : +31 (0)317 486801 Mail: gareth.borman@wur.nl Web: www.cdi.wur.nl |
4.03 Bayer
CropScience announces scholarship for training in European Plant Breeding
AcademySM with University of California
Davis, CA,
July 5, 2011 – Bayer CropScience awards a full scholarship
including tuition and travel costs for participation in the 2011 European Plant
Breeding Academy. The Academy offers a maximum of 20 participants a professional
development course in advanced plant breeding designed and managed by the Seed
Biotechnology Center at University of California, Davis, California (UC Davis).
At the end of the two-year course, participants will have the skills and
know-how to start a career as a professional plant breeder in the seed
industry.
For Bayer
CropScience, this scholarship recognizes the importance of plant breeding
excellence and the increasing demand for skilled experts especially in Europe.
“Bayer CropScience is proud to support the UC Davis European Plant Breeding
Academy,” said Mike Gilbert, Global Head of Breeding & Trait Development at
Bayer CropScience. “As we grow and sustain our successful global seeds and
traits business, we rely on teams of highly competent plant breeders who can
understand and can optimize all of the modern plant breeding tools available.
We also appreciate a healthy source of skills and knowledge in the science of
plant breeding and are pleased to contribute to opportunities such as these,”
explained Gilbert.
“We recognize Bayer CropScience as a leading
and credible partner in the plant science industry which is important for UC
Davis in the development and delivery of the highest quality professional
development,” said Dr. Kent Bradford, Director of the Seed Biotechnology Center
at the UC Davis. “We are especially delighted that Bayer CropScience is
offering this scholarship to help ensure advanced plant breeding skills are
more widely realized especially in European growth markets.”
The European
Plant Breeding Academy relies on combined industry efforts from key partners in
each country hosting a module including FlandersBio (Belgium), the European
Seed Association (Belgium), Vegepolys (France), Leibniz Institute of Plant
Genetics and Crop Plant Research (Germany), the German Plant Breeders
Association, Seed Valley and Naktuinbouw in The Netherlands, Center for
Research in Agricultural Genomics in Spain and the Spanish Plant Breeders
Association. The first Academy program was offered in 2006 and has since
attracted 66 participants from 17 countries and over 40 organizations. It
involves six one week intensive modules over a two year period. The 2011/12
program commences in October 2011 with modules to take place in Belgium,
France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and the USA.
More information about the European Plant Breeding Academy and the
Bayer CropScience Scholarship are available at www.pba.ucdavis.edu.
Contacts:
Richard
Breum, phone: +49 2173 38-3270
E-mail: richard.breum@bayercropscience.com
UC
Davis
E-Mail: rgjuric@ucdavis.edu
5.01 Junior
Professor (W1) for “Plant Genomics and Plant Breeding in the Tropics and
Subtropics”
The Faculty
of Agricultural Sciences invites applications for the position of a Junior Professor (W1) for “Plant Genomics
and Plant Breeding in the Tropics and Subtropics” endowed by the Hans
Freiherr von Ellrichshausen Foundation at the Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed
Science and Population Genetics.
The
successful applicant will develop and apply new genomics and breeding methods
in plants with a focus on field crops of the tropics and subtropics. After a
successful evaluation, the candidate will take over the tenured chair in
“Applied Genetics and Plant Breeding”. The position involves a contribution to
the teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate courses mostly in English, to
supervise undergraduate and postgraduate student research projects; and to
attract external funding. Collaborative projects within the interdisciplinary scientific
centers of the University of Hohenheim as well as with national and
international research institutes are expected.
Criteria
for appointment at Level W1 include: an outstanding doctoral degree; the
demonstrated ability to conduct research in plant breeding, with evidence of
scholarly publications and demonstrated potential to attract research funds;
excellent written and oral communication skills in the English language; and an
ability to work cooperatively in teams.
Initially,
the appointment is limited to a four year period, but can be extended after
positive evaluation to six years in total with tenure track option on level W3.
The
University attempts to increase the number of female scientists and strongly
encourages women to apply. In case of identical qualifications, disabled
persons are given preference.
Applications
including a curriculum vitae, lists of publications, and letter of motivation
should be sent until September, 15 2011 to the
Dean
Faculty of
Agricultural Sciences
Universität
Hohenheim
70593
Stuttgart, Germany
Contributed
by Karl Schmid
5.02 Manager Crop Development / Crop Development
Specialist
We are
seeking applications for a qualified Manager Crop Development / Crop
Development Specialist, his/her role is to provide overall leadership in
biofortified crop development to achieve technological, crop improvement and
commercial project goals: generating biofortified germplasm products without
compromising agronomic performance and nutrition/end-use quality and assist in
guiding the design and delivery of the technology to undernourished people.
Applicants
should apply by e-mail, including a cover letter, a full C.V., and the names
and contact information of three referees knowledgeable about the candidate’s
professional qualifications and work experience. Applications should be sent to
Catalina Montoya ( c.m.ruiz@cgiar.org ) at the
Human Resources Office at CIAT.
CIAT offers
a multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary and
excellent benefits; we believe that the diversity of their staff contributes to
excellence.
Closing
date for applications: August 15, 2011 with extension until the position is
filled
We invite you to learn more about HarvestPlus and
CIAT by accessing the websites www.harvestplus.org and www.ciat.cgiar.org respectively
6. MEETINGS,
COURSES
New
listings may include some program details, while repeat listings will include
only basic information. Visit web sites
for additional details.
This section includes three
subsections:
- DISTANCE LEARNING/ONLINE
COURSES
- COURSES
OF THE SEED BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER AT UC DAVIS
- OTHER
MEETINGS, COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
- DISTANCE LEARNING/ONLINE COURSES
26-28
October 2011. Plant Breeding for Drought Tolerance
Colorado State University and University of Nebraska-Lincoln
researchers are excited to offer a one-credit online course in plant breeding
for drought tolerance Sept. 26 to Oct. 28, 2011.
Concepts for this intensive, one-credit graduate level course
include:
·
Understanding the target environment
·
Determining which phenotypic traits to use in selection
practices
·
Understanding transgenic approaches and quantitative trait
locus analysis for improving drought tolerance
·
Learning from successful examples of improving drought
tolerance in a variety of crops
·
Integrating techniques learned in the course into a breeding
or research program strategy
The course is targeted to graduate students in the plant
sciences, as well as to professionals in the public and private sectors. It
will provide one transferable graduate-level credit. Please visit the Plant
Breeding for Drought Tolerance website at http://www.droughtadaptation.org for
further program details and application information.
++++++++++
Master
of Science in Plant Breeding at Iowa State University (distance program)
Professionals
who would like to advance their careers now have access to the world renowned
plant breeding program at Iowa State University without becoming a resident
on-campus student. The Master of Science in Plant Breeding provides the same
rigorous curriculum as the resident program, including access to plant breeding
faculty within the Department of Agronomy.
Students completing the program will understand not only the
fundamentals of plant breeding, but also gain knowledge of advanced concepts
such as genomic selection and the challenges facing plant breeders in our
global society.
The curriculum consists of 12 courses plus a one-credit
workshop and a three-credit creative component, for a total of 40 credits. The
one-credit practicum is the only course that requires attendance on campus-
four days during one summer. Generally, students who have completed a degree
from a College of Agriculture will meet the requirements.
Contact information is:
msagron@iastate.edu
toll-free: 800-747-4478
phone: 515-294-2999
http://masters.agron.iastate.edu
Maria Salas-Fernandez
Assistant Professor
Department of Agronomy
Iowa State Univ.
msagron@iastate.edu
+++++++++
Online Graduate Program in Seed Technology & Business
Iowa State University
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=48323218&msgid=597705&act=BDP
The Iowa State University On-line
Graduate Program in Seed Technology and Business develops potential into
managerial leadership.
Seed industry professionals face
ever-increasing challenges. The Graduate Program in Seed Technology and
Business (
The
Contact us today for more
information about how you can apply.
Paul Christensen, Seed Technology
and Business Program Manager Ph.
515-294-8745, seedgrad@iastate.edu
+++++++++++
Plant
Breeding Methods - Distance Education version
CS, HS
541-section 601 DE; 3 credits; lecture only
Prerequisite:
a statistics course
North
Carolina State University will be offering CS,HS 541, Plant Breeding Methods in
a distance education version this fall. The instructor is Todd Wehner (tcwehner@gmail.com).
This is
an introductory Plant Breeding course for first year graduate students and
advanced undergraduate students. The emphasis is on traditional methods
of developing improved cultivars of cross-pollinated, self-pollinated, and
asexually-propagated crops, and the genetic principles on which breeding
methods are based. The purpose of this course is to provide the student a
general background in all areas of plant breeding. The goal is to develop
students who are knowledgeable in all of the areas of plant breeding, and to
have sufficient understanding to work as an assistant breeder at a seed company,
or to continue with advanced courses in plant breeding.
CS,HS
541 presents an overview of plant breeding methods, including germplasm
resources, pollen control, measurement of genetic variances, and use of
heterosis. Special topics include genotype-environment interaction, index
selection, stress resistance, polyploidy, and mutation breeding. The
course provides in-depth coverage of methods for breeding cross-pollinated,
self-pollinated and asexually-propagated crops. Courses usually taken
before CS,HS 541 are genetics and statistics. Courses taken after often
include HS 703 (breeding asexually propagated crops), CS,HS 719 (germplasm and
biogeography), CS,HS 720 (molecular genetics), CS,HS 745 (quantitative
genetics), CS,HS 746 (advanced breeding), CS,HS 748 (pest resistance, now
PP590), CS,HS 860 (breeding lab 1), and CS,HS 861 (breeding lab 2).
For more
information on HS 541 Plant Breeding Methods, see:
http://distance.ncsu.edu/courses/fall-courses/HS.php
For more
information on distance education at NC State University, see:
For more
information on Todd Wehner, see:
http://cucurbitbreeding.ncsu.edu/
++++++++++++
Plant
Breeding for non majors - Distance Education version
HS 590
(521-sections 801, 601 DE); 1 credit; lecture only
Prerequisites:
undergraduate biology, genetics
North
Carolina State University will be offering HS 590, Plant Breeding for Non
Majors in a distance education version this fall. The instructor is Todd
Wehner (tcwehner@gmail.com).
This is
an introductory Plant Breeding course for first year graduate students and
advanced undergraduate students. The emphasis is on methods of developing
improved cultivars of cross-pollinated, self-pollinated, and
asexually-propagated crops. The purpose of this course is to provide the
student a working knowledge of the main areas of plant breeding. The
course is aimed at students interested in having a background knowledge of
plant breeding, working with plant breeders, or doing breeding work in their
home garden.
HS 590
presents an overview of plant breeding methods, including germplasm resources,
male sterility, and use of heterosis. Special topics include
genotype-environment interaction, index selection, disease and insect
resistance, interspecific hybridization, and mutation breeding. The main
focus is on methods for breeding cross-pollinated, self-pollinated and
asexually-propagated crops.
For more
information on HS 590 Plant Breeding Methods, see:
http://distance.ncsu.edu/courses/fall-courses/HS.php
For more
information on distance education at NC State University, see:
For more
information on Todd Wehner, see:
http://cucurbitbreeding.ncsu.edu/
- COURSES OF THE SEED
BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER AT UC DAVIS
December
5-9, 2011
Davis, California
January
16-20, 2012
Wimaua, Florida
The purpose of Seed Business 101℠ is to
shorten the learning curve for promising new employees and young managers.
This course teaches them what every employee must know about
the main functional areas of a seed company in order to perform optimally in
the team as quickly as possible and avoid mistakes.
Research
Production
Operations
Sales and Marketing
Administration
SB 101℠ gives new employees a broad understanding of the major
aspects of a seed company’s operations and cross-departmental knowledge of best
practices for profitability. The course also offers invaluable
insights and perspective to seed dealers and companies offering products
and services to the seed industry, including seed treatments, crop protection,
seed enhancement and technology, machinery and equipment, etc.
During each of the 4 case studies, students assume a
different functional responsibility within the company.
For more information please contact Jeannette Martins at UC
Davis Seed Biotechnology Center Phone (530) 752 4984 or jmartins@ucdavis.edu.
Register online: sbc.ucdavis.edu
+++++++++++
Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) hosts
European Plant Breeding Academy sessions focused on breeding with molecular
markers
CRAG moves to a new building in
Barcelona and hosts European Plant Breeding Academy session focused on breeding
with molecular markers.
At the beginning of 2011 the Centre
for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) research groups will move to a new
building in the Bellaterra Campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. (www.cragenomica.es). The new building features state-of-the art laboratories,
growthrooms and greenhouses. At the opening the new facility will already
accommodate 99 scientists, 63 Ph.D. students, 52 technical support staff and 11
administrative staff.
Contributed by Joy Patterson
+++++++++++
Breeding
with Molecular Markers Course 2012
Location and Dates:
UC Davis – Conference Center
February 14-15, 2012
Who should attend?
This course is designed for professional plant breeders who
want to learn when and how molecular tools can be integrated in their breeding
programs. It is also an opportunity for breeders who are already using these
tools to expand their knowledge of new strategies and technologies.
Topics include:
• Types and
availability of molecular markers
• Working with
quantitative trait loci
• Maker– assisted
selection
• Using association
studies in breeding
• Effects of
population structure on applications of molecular markers
• Hands- on
software demonstrations to analyze traits with molecular markers
• New breeding
strategies with markers
For more information contact: jmartins@ucdavis.edu
or (530) 7524984
Donna Van Dolah
Seed Biotechnology Center
One Shields Ave., Mail Stop 5
Davis, CA 95616
Tel: 530-752-2159
Fax: 530-754-7222
dlvandolah@ucdavis.edu
+++++++++++
European
Plant Breeding Second Class Starts October 2011
Applications are now being accepted for the second class of
the European Plant Breeding Academy beginning in October of 2011. The
integrated postgraduate program, which is not crop specific, teaches the
fundamentals of plant breeding, genetics, and statistics through
lectures, discussion, and field trips to public and private breeding programs.
Employers appreciate the opportunity to provide their valued employees advanced
training without disrupting their full-time employment. Participants will
attend six 6-day sessions in five countries. The instructors are
internationally recognized experts in plant breeding and seed technology.
For more information on the UC Davis European Plant Breeding
Academy or the Plant Breeding Academy in the United States visit http://pba.ucdavis.edu or contact Joy Patterson, jpatterson@ucdavis.edu
For more information and
application process visit http://pba.ucdavis.edu/PBA_in_Europe/PBA_in_Europe_Class_II/.
EPBA
Class II locations and dates:
Week 1: Oct 17-22,
2011
Location: Gent, Belgium
Partners: FlandersBio
Week 2: Mar 5-10,
2012
Location: Angers, France
Partners: Vegepolys,
Fédération
Nationale des Professionnels des Semences Potageres et Florales (FNPSP)
Week 3: June 25-30,
2012
Location: Gatersleben, Germany
Partners: The German Plant Breeders'
Association (BDP), Leibniz
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
Week 4: Oct 8-13,
2012
Location: Enkhuizen, Netherlands
Partners: Seed Valley, Naktuinbouw
Week 5: Mar 4-9,
2013
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Partners: Asociacion Nacional de
Obtentores Vegetales (ANOVE), CRAG [a consortium
between Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia
Agroalimentaries (IRTA) & Universitat
Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB)]
Week 6: June 24-29,
2013
Location: Davis, CA
Partners: Seed
Biotechnology Center, UC Davis
Department of Plant Sciences
+++++++++++
- OTHER MEETINGS, COURSES AND
WORKSHOPS
The
following meetings are noted for Chiang Mai, Thailand during 2011 and 2012:
-The Role of Agriculture and National Resources on Global
Warming (7-9 Nov. 2011)
-International Rubber Council (8-11 Nov. 2011)
-International Symposium Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (15-18 Nov. 2011)
-Third International Symposium on Papaya (24-27 Nov. 2011)
-International Symposium on Tropical and Subtropical Fruit (29 Nov.-2 Dec. 2011)
-Twenty-second Congress of International on Orchids and
Ornamental Plants (9-12 Jan. 2012)
-The 12th SABRAO Congress (13-16 Jan. 2012 in The Plant
Breeding Challenges in the Global Dynamism
-International Symposium on Banana (23-26 Jan. 2012)
-Regional Symposium on International Conference on
Tropical and Subtropical Plant Diseases (7-9 Feb. 2012)
For more information: www.royalflora2011.com and peyanoot@hotmail.com or
royalflorasymposium2011@yahoo.com
+++++++++++
14 August
2011. SolCAP Potato Genomics Workshop, the Hilton
Wilmington Riverside, 301 North Water Street, Wilmington, North Carolina.
The USDA Solanaceae Coordinated Ag project (http://solcap.msu.edu) is hosting the workshop "
15-17
August 2011. The 17th Australian Research Assembly on Brassicas
(ARAB), Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.
Further information is available at http://www.australianoilseeds.com/oilseeds_industry/whats-on/arab_2011 or email
the Conference Secretary: Ros.Prangnell@industry.nsw.gov.au
5-7
September 2011. 2nd International Plant Phenotyping Conference, ,
Jülich, Germany
https://www.congressa.de/phenosymp2011/
5-9 September
2011. 21st
International Triticeae Mapping Initiative workshop, Hotel Sevilla, Mexico City, Mexico.
The 21st ITMI Workshop will present recent advances
in molecular genetics, genomics, and genetic analysis of Triticeae. Topics
will include structural and functional genomics mapping and cloning, molecular
breeding, wheat genetic resources, bioinformatics, and new technologies for
cereal crops.
Registration: http://conferences.cimmyt.org/en/home-itmi-workshop
7-8
Septmber 2011.
Coexistence Workshop: The Science of Gene Flow in Agriculture and its Role in
Co-existence. Washington DC
Registration There is no fee to attend this
workshop. Registration includes daily breaks, however, lunch is not included
(there is a cafeteria in the building). For questions contact Susan DiTomaso. This workshop is sponsored by the
USDA.
11-14
September 2011. 8th
International Symposium on Mycosphaerella and Stagonospora Diseases of Cereals, Hotel
Sevilla, Mexico City, Mexico
The Symposium will focus on the Mycosphaerella and
Stagonospora pathogen communities infecting cereals. Individual sessions
will address pathogen biology and genetics, genomics, resistance breeding,
population genetics, evolutionary biology, and disease management.
Registration: http://conferences.cimmyt.org/en/home-septoria-conference
21-22
September 2011.European Workshop on Organic Seed Regulation,
The Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm, Hamstead Marshall near
Newbury, RG20 0HR, UK. organized by the European Consortium for Organic
Plant Breeding
Contact:
Dr. Thomas Döring
E‐mail: thomas.d(at)organicresearchcentre.com,
Tel. 00441488 658298 Extension 553.
3-8 October
2012. 6th
International Congress on Legume Genetics and Genomics,
Hyderabad, India.
Follow
the link http://www.icrisat.org/gt-bt/VI-ICLGG/homepage.htm or send email at r.k.varshney@cgiar.org / iclgg2012@gmail.com for more
information.
Please
keep visiting http://www.icrisat.org/gt-bt/VI-ICLGG/Homepage.htm to have updates and
more information about the ICLGG-2012, Hyderabad, India. Thanks!
6-8 October 2011. Amaranth Institute Meeting: Innovation and Development, Iowa State
University, Ames, Iowa USA.
11 October
2011. SolCAP
workshop at the Tomato Disease Workshop, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
This
workshop will be held in conjunction with the Tomato
Disease Workshop.
Registration: Registration is FREE but REQUIRED to
track the total number of participants. If you would like to attend, when
registering for the Tomato
Disease Workshop Meeting, select
the SolCAP Workshop option. If you have already registered for the Tomato
Disease Workshop and overlooked the SolCAP workshop registration please contact
Jeanette Martins email: jmartins@ucdavis.edu or visit the website to register for
the SolCAP Workshop - SolCAP
Workshop Registration
October
2011 to June 2013.
European Plant Breeding Academysm Class II scheduled to start in Fall 2011
Applications
are now being accepted.
European Plant Breeding Academy
class II will begin its academic year in Fall 2011. This is a
professional development course designed by the Seed Biotechnology Center at UC
Davis to increase the supply of professional plant breeders.
For more information on the UC Davis European Plant Breeding
Academy or the Plant Breeding Academy in the United States visit http://pba.ucdavis.edu or contact Joy Patterson, jpatterson@ucdavis.edu.
(See also Section B
above for further details)
16-20
October 2011.
International Symposium on Sunflower Genetic Resources, Fantasia
Deluxe Hotel, KusadasiEvent State, Izmir, Turkey
http://www.ttae.gov.tr/symposium
24-26
October 2011. Minia International Conference for Agriculture and
Irrigation in the Nile Basin Countries, Egypt.
For further details please visit our website www.micma2011.org
24-27 October 2011. CIALCA International Conference, Kigali, Rwanda, http://tinyurl.com/69lr2k3
October
2011. 10th
African Crop Science Society Conference 2011, Maputo, Mozambique.
More information will be available on ACSS website.
Also, you can contact Dr. Luisa Santos (ACSS Vice- President,
Chairman, LOC; luisa@zebra.uem.mz) Eduardo
Mondlane University, Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering, P.O. Box
257, Maputo, Mozambique.
7-11
November 2011. The 11th Asian Maize Conference, Xiyuan Hotel, 38,
XingGuang, DaDao, Nanning, 530031, Guangxi, P.R. China.
The meeting will be jointly hosted by the Guangxi Academy of
Agricultural Sciences (GAAS) and the Guangxi Maize Research Institute (GMRI).
Scientists and maize production specialists of all
disciplines, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and seed
industries are invited to participate.
More information: http://conferences.cimmyt.org/en/events/the-11th-asian-maize-conference
(NEW) 27 November – 3 December 2011. 9th Triennial Regional
Cassava Workshop on “Sustainable Cassava production in Asia for Multiple
Uses for Multiple Markets”, Nanning city, Guangxi province, China.
For more information, please contact:
Mrs.
Pimjutha Kerdnoom
CIAT-Bangkok
c/o Field Crops Research Institute,
Department
of Agriculture
Chattuchak
Bangkok 10900
Thailand
Telephone: +66 2 579 7551
Fax: +66 2
940 5541 www.ciat.cgiar.org
The
correspondence regarding the workshop should be addressed to the following:
E-mail: ciat-bangkok@cgiar.org
January 2012. Plant Exploration and
Collecting: the ethics, the process, and world laws, Chile.
www.LongIslandHort.cornell.edu
+++++++++++
7-9 February 2012. The 12th SABRAO Congress. Chiang Mai, Thailand
For more
information: www.royalflora2011.com and peyanoot@hotmail.com or royalflorasymposium2011@yahoo.com
+++++++++++++
13-16 January 2012. The Plant Breeding Challenges in the
Global Dynamism, Chiang
Mai, Thailand
For more
information: www.royalflora2011.com and peyanoot@hotmail.com or royalflorasymposium2011@yahoo.com
+++++++++++
23-26 January 2012. International Symposium on Banana, Chiang Mai, Thailand
For more
information: www.royalflora2011.com and peyanoot@hotmail.com or royalflorasymposium2011@yahoo.com
++++++++++
7-9 February 2012. Regional Symposium on International Conference on Tropical and
Subtropical Plant Diseases, Chiang Mai, Thailand
For more
information: www.royalflora2011.com and peyanoot@hotmail.com or royalflorasymposium2011@yahoo.com
+++++++++++
For more
information: www.royalflora2011.com and peyanoot@hotmail.com or royalflorasymposium2011@yahoo.com
Contributed
by Jinda Jan-orn
++++++++++++
(NEW) 16 April – 22
May 2012. Contemporary approaches to genetic resources
conservation and use, Wageningen, The Netherlands
In the
context of climate change: Genetic resource policy and management strategies;
and Integrated seed sector development
Focus of
the training programme
Professional
breeding, commercialisation and globalisation of food markets have resulted in
the simplification of the range of crops cultivated in agricultural systems.
This has led to an erosion of genetic resources and caused major concerns over
future food and nutrition security and the vulnerability of agricultural
systems towards pests, diseases and climate change. Various research and
development programmes have addressed the topic of farmers’ and communities’
roles in the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity. Together
with the importance placed on the recognition of intellectual property rights,
this topic is being pushed towards the top of international development and
biodiversity conservation agendas.
Seed is the
carrier of all genetic information of plants and forms the basis of crop
production. Seed is a key issue in addressing agricultural development and food
security, but also a commodity that can promote economic development and
entrepreneurship. The concept of integrated seed sector development recognises
that within both the farmer- and community-based productions systems, and also
the formal public and private systems, different values are upheld and
different conditions apply, which generate their own limitations for seed sector
development.
Aims and
objectives
The
objective of the one course of the training programme is to enhance
participants’ capabilities to more effectively manage plant genetic resource
conservation programmes and to use various strategies to support the
sustainable use of genetic resources, whilst the objective of the other course
is to strengthen participants’ knowledge and capabilities to support the
concept of integrated seed sector development. In both courses relevant
policies receive special attention.
Training
methods
The
training programme provides the opportunity to learn from the broad range of
international experience that is represented not only by our trainers, but also
by fellow participants. Working in a task-oriented, interactive and
experience-based forum, we facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience
through a variety of formats, including: lectures; case studies; group
discussions; assignments and fieldwork. The programme concludes with the
development of proposals and action plans which integrate all course topics and
relate them to the reality of the participants’ working situations.
Who can
participate?
The
training programme is designed for mid-career professionals working in genetic
resource conservation or seed sector development, from policy, research,
education or development arenas. Participants may be employed by ministries,
research institutes, universities, companies, NGOs or other organisations with
an agricultural development orientation. Applicants should have at least an MSc
or equivalent in training and experience. They should have at least three years
of professional experience in a relevant field and be proficient in English.
Programme
The
programme consists of two three-week courses offered in parallel tracks,
namely: 1) Genetic resource policy and management strategies, and 2) Integrated
seed sector development. Additionally, workshops on special topics are
organised in which the participants of both courses will come together. Based
on professional interests and institutional needs, participants have to make a
choice in which course to participate. Preference needs to be indicated on the
online application form under “What is the practical use of this course for
your work?” After the selection of participants in March 2012, Wageningen
UR Centre for Development Innovation will announce the final programme.
2.
Integrated seed sector development
Using the
concept of integrated seed sector development, the course will explore
opportunities for linking farmers’, public and private seed systems, and
increase participants knowledge to more effectively and efficiently manage
their own seed programmes. Topics addressed are:
Seed and genetic resource policies
Integrated approaches to seed sector development
Formal and informal seed systems
Public-private partnerships
Local seed business development
Entrepreneurship and agri-business
The role of knowledge institutes in seed sector development
Methodologies and tools for participatory learning and action
The first
two weeks of the programme will focus on theory and concepts. Group assignments
aim to translate theory and concepts through examples taken from participants’
own working contexts. In the third week of the training, theory and concepts
will be tested through their application in a one-week field study in the
Netherlands.
Special
Topics
The
training includes two one-day workshops in which the participants of both
courses elaborate on either the impact of climate change on genetic resources
or the impact of biotechnology on genetic resources.
The
organising committee reserves the right to change the programme where
necessary.
Partners
The
training programmes are organised by Wageningen UR Centre for Development
Innovation and the Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands in
collaboration with other partners from Wageningen UR.
Participants
are granted a Certificate of Attendance
Fees and
accommodation
The fee for this course is € 3600. This amount excludes board and lodging and travel expenses. Participants will be accommodated at the Hof van Wageningen hotel on the basis of full board and lodg