October 24, 2008
Global
RF to Support Regulatory Process for Golden Rice
Pesticides Eyed for U.N. Watch List
Africa
IRMA Maize Project Set for Regional Trials
Americas
Scientists Discover Protein Behind the Plant Mating Game
Biofortified or Ordinary Lettuce - They Taste the Same
BASF Plant Science, University of Manitoba Ink Licensing Agreement
Syngenta Acquires Hybrid Flower Seed Company
Asia and the Pacific
Rice Action Plan for SEA Nations
Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides: IFPRI Reviews the Evidence
IFAD Supports Program to Boost Agriculture in Western Rajasthan
India's GEAC Clarifies Issue Re Mandatory Testing of GMF
Pakistan Off By 1 M Bales in Cotton Yield Projection
New Cotton Variety in Pakistan
Europe
Nanotechnologies and Food Safety
EU Ministers Debate About GMO-Free Zones
Purple Tomatoes, Coming to a Plate Near You...
Research
The (Not so) Secret Sex Life of Plants
Gene Responsible for Root Offshoots Identified
Field Evolved Resistance to Bt Proteins
ANNOUNCEMENTS |
DOCUMENT REMINDERS
Biofuels Supplement ( October 17, 2008 Issue) [
Read latest news]
News
GLOBAL
RF TO SUPPORT REGULATORY PROCESS FOR GOLDEN RICE
The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) will provide funding to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to shepherd Golden Rice through national, regulatory approval processes in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. This was announced by Dr. Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, during her keynote address at the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue in Iowa, USA. The RF president spoke on "Mobilizing the Next Green Revolution: Alleviating Poverty in the Age of Climate Change".
"This continues our historic relationship with IRRI, an institution that has directly benefited billions of the world's poorest people. It also reflects our enduring commitments to connect families with technologies that can help them lead healthier, better, more productive lives, to see innovation through to action and impact, and to give great ideas, 90 percent down the road, that extra 10 percent they need to reach their destination," said Dr. Rodin.
See the full transcript of Dr. Rodin's speech
at
http://www.rockfound.org/about_us/speeches/101708food_prize.shtml
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
PESTICIDES EYED FOR U.N. WATCH LIST
The fate of three chemicals will be decided in a meeting that will be conducted at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's headquarters in Rome next week. Ministers and government officials from 120 nations will deliberate whether to include two pesticides - endosulfan and tributyltin - and the industrial chemical chrysotile asbestos to a trade watch list of hazardous compounds. Endosulfan is widely used around the world, particularly in cotton production.
Under the Rotterdam Convention, an international treaty designed to ensure that hazardous chemicals do not endanger human health and the environment, chemicals that are included in the list will be subject to the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure. Inclusion of substances in the PIC list does not amount to a global ban or a severe restriction of their use, but rather highlights the potential hazards they pose to human health and the environment.
The PIC procedure gives developing country Parties the power to decide which of these chemicals they wish to receive and to exclude those they cannot manage safely. Exporting Parties are responsible for ensuring that no exports leave their territory when an importing country has made the decision not to accept the chemicals.
For more information, read
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000941/index.html
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
AFRICA
IRMA MAIZE PROJECT SET FOR REGIONAL TRIALS
The Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project is set to present experimental results in Nairobi, Kenya after which it will then be ready for regional trials. The project is a collaborative effort of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Bt maize seeds are being tested to resist stem borers, and post-harvest pests like weevils and large green borers. Numerous 'open quarantine' field trials have been conducted at the KARI station in Kiboko to test best options.
CIMMYT says that about 400,000 tonnes of maize grown in Kenya is lost to stem borers each year and almost the same amount of maize is imported annually. The use of the transgenic corn is expected to increase farmers' yield and income.
The article is available at
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=746&Itemid=2
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
AMERICAS
SCIENTISTS DISCOVER PROTEIN BEHIND THE PLANT MATING GAME
Life is not always easy for plants, especially when it comes to sex. They rely on external factors such as wind and animals to bring them potential mates in the form of pollen grains. When the pollen grains arrive, they announce their identity to the pistil (the female part of the flower) using molecular signals. Scientists at the University of Missouri have identified a set of protein that communicates the rejection or acceptance of pollen grains. The discovery might help in developing ways to prevent transgene escape from genetically modified crops and offer better ways to control fertilization between cross species.
Bruce McClure and colleagues used the pistil proteins, NaTTS and 120K as "bait" to see what pollen proteins would bind to them. Pretty much like attaching one side of Velcro to the pistil and then screening a collection of pollen proteins to see which of the proteins have the complementary Velcro strip for binding. NaTTS and 120K were used since previous studies have shown that they influence the growth of the pollen to the ovary, the part of the plant where fertilization takes place. Three proteins were identified as necessary for fertilization: the S-RNase-binding protein (SBP1), the protein NaPCCP and a cysteine protease enzyme.
Read the full article at
http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2008/1023-mcclure-pollen-
proteins.php The abstract of the paper published by the Journal of Biological Chemistry is available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M804410200
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
BIOFORTIFIED OR ORDINARY LETTUCE - THEY TASTE THE SAME
Once available in the market, is it possible to distinguish whether the lettuce in a hamburger sandwich is GM or not by taste alone? There is no difference in flavor, bitterness or crispness between calcium-biofortified lettuce and conventional lettuce. This was the finding of a study on " Sensory analysis of calcium-biofortified lettuce" by Sunghun Park of Kansas State University and colleagues published in the online Plant Biotechnology Journal. Sensory analysis studies are important to determine efficacy of biofortified foods and an important component in the public acceptance of genetically modified foods.
The research team demonstrated that lettuce expressing the deregulated Arabidopsis H+/Ca2+ transporter sCAX1 (cation exchanger 1) contained 25%-32% more calcium than controls. These biofortified lettuce lines were fertile and demonstrated robust growth in glasshouse growth conditions.
Read the research abstract at
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121451954/abstract or email Sunghun Park at
shpark@ksu.edu.
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
BASF PLANT SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA INK LICENSING AGREEMENT
BASF Plant Science and the University of Manitoba have signed a licensing agreement on a promising gene discovery related to increased crop yields and stress tolerance. The discovery may be used in major food crops such as corn, soybeans, cotton, canola and rice. The 'hardiness' gene will be tested and validated in model plants by BASF Plant Science. Researchers at the University of Manitoba, on the other hand, will continue their research to deepen the understanding of the gene's entire function. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Read the press release at
http://www.basf.com/corporate/news_2008/news_release_2008_00297.htm
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
SYNGENTA ACQUIRES HYBRID FLOWER SEED COMPANY
Syngenta announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the U.S. hybrid flower seed producer Goldsmith Inc. for US $74 million. Goldsmith breeds, produces and sells a broad range of pot and bedding products, including major crops such as cyclamen, impatiens and petunia. Syngenta said that it will maintain the Goldsmith brand in the market under the Syngenta Flowers umbrella. Goldsmith is headquartered in Gilroy, California and has facilities there and in Guatemala. The company employs some 1500 workers.
The press release is available at
http://www.syngenta.com/en/media/mediareleases/en_081021.html
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
RICE ACTION PLAN FOR SEA NATIONS
Ministers of agriculture of the ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) unanimously endorsed a seven-point action plan presented by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Dr. Robert S. Zeigler, IRRI's director general, presented a comprehensive food security strategy for the region during the 30th annual meeting of the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Zeigler said that "We have the scientific expertise, knowledge, and partnerships to grow the rice Asia needs and now-with this endorsement by these nations-we have strong political support. The only thing missing are the financial resources needed to implement this." The Action Plan includes the following measures:
*Bring about an agronomic revolution to reduce existing yield gaps.
*Accelerate the delivery of new postharvest technologies to reduce losses.
*Accelerate the introduction and adoption of higher-yielding rice varieties.
*Strengthen and upgrade breeding pipelines for developing new varieties and hybrids.
*Accelerate research on the world's thousands of rice varieties so scientists can use the vast *reservoir of untapped genetic resources they contain.
*Develop a new generation of rice scientists and researchers for the public and private sectors.
*Provide rice policy support.
For more information on the Rice Action Plan, visit
http://solutions.irri.org/.
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
BT COTTON AND FARMER SUICIDES: IFPRI REVIEWS THE EVIDENCE
Although officially recognized for having increased production and farmers' income, Bt cotton remains controversial in India. Among other allegations, it is accused of being the main reason for a resurgence of farmer suicides in India. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides a comprehensive review of evidence on Bt cotton and farmer suicides in India. The review is used to evaluate a set of hypotheses on whether or not there has been a resurgence of farmer suicides since 2002, and the potential relationship suicide may have with the use of Bt cotton.
"Bt Cotton and Farmer Suicides: Reviewing the Evidence" by G. P Gruere, P. Mehta-Bhatt and D. Sengupta first shows that there is no evidence in available data of a "resurgence" of farmer suicides in India in the last five years. Second, the research finds that Bt cotton technology has been very effective overall in India. Third, the analysis clearly shows that Bt cotton is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for the occurrence of farmer suicides.
The paper is available at
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/ifpridp00808.asp
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
IFAD SUPPORTS PROGRAM TO BOOST AGRICULTURE IN WESTERN RAJASTHAN
The United Nations' International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced plans to provide about US$ 31 million to a project in India that aims to increase agricultural production and boost employment prospects in the country's Western Rajasthan region. The IFAD will give a loan of US$30.3 million and a grant of US$600,000 to support 95,000 poor households in the districts of Jokhpur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Pali, Sirohi and Jalor. The households include landless laborers, small and marginal farmers, owners of marginal land, traditional artisans, women and young people.
Harsh, arid climate and cyclical drought contribute to the region's core problems of severe lack of water, poor agricultural and livestock productivity, limited income generating opportunities and a patriarchal system that discriminates against women. The project is expected to improve farming practices through watershed management, promote both self employment and wage employment opportunities and provide access to financial services and markets. IFAD, tasked with alleviating the plight of the world's rural poor, has already financed 22 projects in India, approving loans for a total of US$595.3 million.
View the press release at
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2008/51.htm
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
INDIA'S GEAC CLARIFIES ISSUE RE MANDATORY TESTING OF GMF
India's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests has not ordered the mandatory testing of genetically modified (GM) packed food being sold in the country. This was clarified by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Shri Namo Narain Meena, in response to a query regarding this issue.
GEAC stressed however, that its approval is required prior to commercial use of GM organisms and derived products such as the environmental release of Bt cotton and the import and commercial use of GM soybean oil.
View the press release of the India Government's Press Information Bureau at
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=44085
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
PAKISTAN OFF BY 1 M BALES IN COTTON YIELD PROJECTION
Pakistan Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), Nazar Muhammad Gondal, said the country would be able to achieve 13 million cotton bales this crop season. This is up by 1.7 M bales compared to the previous season's harvest but way below the government projection of 14.11 M. Lack of water, poor quality seeds, and inadequate supply of inputs affected the projected yield output.
A survey by the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Sindh and Punjab noted that almost 80 percent of the cotton growing area in Sindh was planted to unapproved Bt cotton with high incidence (60 to 100 percent) of Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) infection.
View the full article at
http://www.pabic.com.pk/23%20oct.html http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\23\
story_23-10-2008_pg5_5
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
NEW COTTON VARIETY IN PAKISTAN
Allahdin Group of Companies in Pakistan introduced a new cotton variety called "BT-A One". Abdul Hameed, manager of the agro company said that unlike other cotton varieties that drop their bolls during severe heat, BT-A One bolls remain intact until harvest.
In a related development, Dr. Neil Forrester, an Australian cotton expert and former director of Australia's Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), told the Board of Directors of the Karachi Cotton Association that the Pakistan government should act on the use of spurious seeds being planted in farmers' fields as well as the use of pesticides without expert opinion. He likewise suggested that efforts be done to develop hybrid seeds and improve the facilities for research and development.
Read the full articles at
http://www.pabic.com.pk/20%20octo,%20Bt%20A%20one.html and
http://www.pabic.com.pk/18%20ocober,%2008%20Dr%20Forrester,%20Bt%20cotton.html
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
EUROPE
NANOTECHNOLOGIES AND FOOD SAFETY
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is seeking public consultation on its draft scientific opinion on nanoscience and nanotechnologies and food and feed safety. Nanotechnologies involve the use of substances on a very small scale. This draft opinion focuses on approaches to risk assessment of engineered nano materials (ENM) that could be deliberately introduced into the food chain.
Key conclusions of the draft opinion include:
*Established international approaches to risk assessment currently used for non nano chemicals can also be applied to ENM
*Specific case by case risk assessments should be performed when assessing ENM's safety, based on specific data from relevant safety tests applicable to the particular application
*Possible risks arise because ENM have particular characteristics, due in part to their small size and high surface area.
*Additional limitations and uncertainties exist, particularly in relation to characterizing, detecting and measuring ENM in food, feed or the body
Visit
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1211902133445.htm for more information.
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
EU MINISTERS DEBATE ABOUT GMO-FREE ZONES
The French European Union (EU) Presidency created an ad-hoc working group to discuss the controversy about genetically modified organisms (GMO)-free zones for sensitive areas. Environmental ministers from the European Union remain at a standstill about whether to establish these GMO-free zones. They agreed however, on the need for better long term environmental risk assessment of GMOs.
Several delegations recommended that the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) guiding principles should be revised using safety assessments based on the latest scientific findings. Socio-economic considerations in the GMO authorization process were considered important although there was no exact definition of the criteria linked to GMOs. A suggestion was made for an EU-level methodology framework to identify and evaluate such criteria.
View the article at
http://www.euractiv.com/en/environment/france-hopes-break-gmo-deadlock-
december/article-176513
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
PURPLE TOMATOES, COMING TO A PLATE NEAR YOU...
Tomatoes with skin as dark as blackberries? They don't just look good, they might actually be good for your health. Researchers from the John Innes Center in the U.K. have developed transgenic tomatoes accumulating high levels of anthocyanins.
Anthocyanins are red-purple pigments found naturally at high levels in grapes, blood orange, red cabbage and eggplant peel. The pigments are much studied for their health benefits, including their roles as antioxidants. Recent studies show that anthocyanins can offer protection against cardiovascular ailments, degenerative diseases and certain types of cancer.
The researchers introduced two genes responsible for the purple pigment of snapdragon flowers. The transgenic tomatoes accumulated anthocyanins at higher levels than anything previously reported for metabolic engineering in both the peel and flesh of the fruit. "This is one of the first examples of metabolic engineering that offers the potential to promote health through diet by reducing the impact of chronic disease," says Cathie Martin, scientist at the John Innes Center. "The next step will be to take the preclinical data forward to human studies with volunteers to see if we can promote health through dietary preventive medicine strategies."
Read the article at
http://www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2008/october/24091.htm For more information, visit
http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/media-and-public/news-releases.htm
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
Research
THE (NOT SO) SECRET SEX LIFE OF PLANTS
Fertilization in plants is unique because it involves two pairs of sperm and egg cells, a process known as double fertilization. One pair will join to produce the embryo and the other pair will fuse in the ovary to produce the nutrient-rich endosperm. Double fertilization is important for fertility and seed production in flowering plants. An increased understanding of the process will provide tools for crop improvement and breeding programs.
Scientists from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea discovered a gene that plays a linchpin role in allowing precursor reproductive cells to divide to form twin sperm cells. Details of their study appear in this week's issue of Nature.
The gene FBL17 was found to be capable of triggering the destruction of the protein inhibitors KRP6 and KRP7. These proteins suppress the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase A1, a factor necessary for cell division. Plants with a mutated version of FBL17 produce pollen grains with a single sperm cell instead of the pair of sperm that are required for successful double fertilization. David Twell, co-author of the paper, noted that this discovery will be useful in understanding the evolutionary origins of flowering plant reproduction and may be used by plant breeders to control crossing behavior in crop plants.
For more information, visit
http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/news/press-releases/2000-
2009/2008/10/nparticle.2008-10-20.2007379639 The abstract of the paper is available a t
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7216/abs/nature07289.html
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
GENE RESPONSIBLE FOR ROOT OFFSHOOTS IDENTIFIED
Researchers at the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) and Ghent University in the Netherlands have pinpointed the gene responsible for root offshoot formation in plants. The gene
ACR4 was found to govern asymmetric cell division in root pericycle. In contrast to the usual cell division, which results to two identical cells, asymmetric stem cell division produces two different cells: a stem cell that is identical to the parent cell and a cell that is ready to become specialized.
The gene encodes a signal receptor, a protein that is often located on the exterior of cells to pick up signals from the outside and transmit them to the controlling mechanisms inside.
Arabidopsis mutants harboring a defective
ACR4 showed disturbed asymmetric cell division.
The fundamental mechanism discovered in the research might enable plant breeders to promote or retard the formation of root offshoots. Promoting an extensive root system helps plants absorb nutrients more readily, and thus they need less fertilizer. Such plants can also grow more easily in dry or infertile soils. On the other hand, slowing down secondary root formation can be advantageous in tuberous plants, like potatoes or sugar beets, allowing them to invest all their energy in nutrient production.
Read the complete article at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1160158
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
FIELD EVOLVED RESISTANCE TO BT PROTEINS
Scientists from the University of Arizona (UA) led by Bruce Tabashnik, a renowned entomologist, published a paper in Nature Biotechnology on the possibility of cotton bollworm/corn earworm (Helicoperva zea) gaining resistance to the Bt toxins contained in transgenic Bt cotton and Bt corn. An article, authored by a team of international researchers and published on this month's issue of the journal, 'questions' the conclusion of Tabashnik and colleagues.
Moar and colleagues noted that the UA researchers' definition of Bt resistance "is purely laboratory based, whereas field efficacy and larval survival on plant tissues are the ultimate criteria for contextualizing laboratory-based estimates of resistance". They further explained that the larval samples should not be collected from Bt crops because they will not be representative of the population as a whole, especially for highly mobile insects such as the cotton bollworm. The researcher also questioned the values used to measure resistance, which according to them will introduce artifacts into the analysis.
The paper available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nbt1008-1072
Tabashnik and colleagues, in a separate article, responded to these questions. They provided additional evidences to show that the field-evolved resistance documented with laboratory diet bioassays is associated with increased survival on
Bt cotton leaves and control problems in the field.
Read their paper at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nbt1008-1074
[
Send to a Friend |
Rate this Article ]
Top
Announcements
FAO E-MAIL CONFERENCE ON BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOENERGY
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Biotechnology Forum will be devoting its next e-mail conference to the potential role that agricultural biotechnologies can play for production of bioenergy in developing countries. The conference will take place from 10 November to 7 December 2008 and is being organized in collaboration with the FAO Working Group on Bioenergy. The conference covers biotechnology applications for first-generation and second-generation biofuels and, to a lesser degree, for biogas production and for biodiesel production from microalgae.
Visit http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp for details on how to join the forum. Information on background document is available at the Document Reminder section of this e-newsletter.
KNOWLEDGE SHARE FAIR FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD SECURITY
Bioversity International, the CGIAR ICT-KM program, and the U.N. agencies International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and World Food Program (WFP) are jointly organizing a three-day event entitled Knowledge "Share Fair" for Agricultural Development and Food Security to be held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy on 20 - 22 January 2009. The purpose of the event is to showcase examples of good knowledge sharing practices in the field of agricultural development and food security.
For more information, visit
http://www.sharefair.net/ or email
share-fair@fao.org
NEW ZEALAND SYMPOSIUM ON BIOSAFETY
"Biosafety Research: Past Achievements and Future Challenges" will be the theme of the 10th International Symposium on the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms (ISBGMO) to be held in Wellington, New Zealand on November 16-21, 2008. Organized by the International Society for Biosafety Research (ISBR) the symposium will also host a special joint OECD/ISBR session to examine risk assessment practices and explore the challenges to formulating sound regulatory decision-making.
Visit
http://www.isbgmo.info/ for details about the program.Visit
http://www.isbgmo.info/ for details about the program.
AATF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR POSITION OPEN
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), a not-for-profit organization designed to facilitate and promote public-private partnerships for the access and delivery of appropriate proprietary agricultural technologies for use by resource-poor farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, is seeking an Executive Director. AATF is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
Inquiries may be made by emailing Donal O'Hare of the O'Hare Management Consulting, Inc. a t
doh@oharemc.com. Deadline for submission of applications is November 14, 2008.
Top
DOCUMENT REMINDEFAO DOCUMENT ON ROLE OF AGRI-BIOTECH FOR BIOENERGY PRODUCTION
FAO published a document entitled "The role of agricultural biotechnologies for production of bioenergy in developing countries". It is the background document for an upcoming FAO e-mail conference that takes place from 10 November to 7 December 2008. It provides an overview of the current status regarding bioenergy, focusing on first- and second-generation liquid biofuels. Some of the potential ways in which biotechnologies could contribute to bioenergy production are also presented.
The document is available at
http://www.fao.org/biotech/C15doc.htm or a copy can be requested from
biotech-admin@fao.org. To join the conference, people should send an e-mail to
mailserv@mailserv.fao.org with the following text on two separate lines: subscribe BIOTECH-L subscribe biotech-room3
Top
