A study conducted by researchers from the Mississippi State University and Ohio State University revealed that the chromatin, the packaged form of the DNA, plays an essential role in controlling rice endosperm sizes and grain quality. The findings may allow scientists to improve the nutritional value of rice. The endosperm portion of the grain is an important component in determining the nutrient content for most cereal crops as it provides growing plant nutrition, such as starch, oils and protein. Inside the plant cell, the two meter long DNA is packaged as chromatin to fit the 20 micrometer (one millionth of a meter) nucleus. A piece of DNA wraps around a group of basic proteins called histones to form a structure similar to the coil of a telephone cord. Several proteins can adjust the tightness of the DNA-histone interaction. Genes positioned in loosely packaged chromatin regions are usually active since they are more accessible to transcription factors. The scientists pinpointed the chromatin modification genes that control endosperm sizes and grain quality. They also identified 344 unique proteins associated with chromatin and found a large number of histone variants in the crop. The findings suggest that manipulating the chromatin-controlling genes may be an effective approach to improve rice yield and quality.

Europe's Funding of Worldwide Activism

An Inconvinient Truth (Image):
Nature Biotechnology: Volume 25, Number 12, Dec 2007

EMBO Reports: Contents: Volume 9, Number S1

Bioentrepreneur: From Bench to Boardroom
.....for an update on the latest events focusing on life science entrepreneurship around the world.

How the EU can Fund your Company

Alfalfa Benifits from Medicago truncatula:
 The RCT1 Gene M.truncatula Confers Broad-spectrum Resistance to Anthracnose in Alfalfa

Consortium for Functional Glycomics

Charles's Fantasy Farming Won't Feed Africa's Poor

A Conversation with Nina V. Fedroff , Advocate for Science Diplomacy

Scientists Target Super Cassava

Who Will China Feed?

http://www.businessbhaskar.com/article.php?id=2179 ( Language: Hindi )

Vitamin C and Cancer Revisited

Moving Ahead with an International Human Epigenome Project

Shrewd Survival Strategy ( Tuberculosis )

World Bank Biofuels Report Finally Released :
The combination of higher energy prices and related increases in fertilizer prices and transport costs, and dollar weakness caused food prices to rise by about 35-40 percentage points from January 2002 until June 2008.