IRRI
AND CIMMYT LAUNCH JOINT SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
After
forming an alliance last year, the Philippines-based International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the International Maize
and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico have come
out with their first output – a new lab and research
program that unite key databases and research on three important
crops.
The
Crop Research Informatics Lab at CIMMYT, which will link with
existing facilities at IRRI, now allows a common platform
for the development of new rice,
wheat,
and maize
varieties. IRRI Director General Robert S. Zeigler said that
“Not only will this reduce the time needed to develop
new crop varieties – because all three are cereals and
so share a range of common characteristics – but we
also expect it to reduce the cost of such research.”
Scientists
are already working on developing a single crop information
system and comparative biology infrastructure for the three
crops. CIMMYT Director General Masa Iwanaga added that, "As
we enter the era of genomics research, the efficient and effective
management of information, and vitally important databases,
is crucial to the ongoing development of new crop varieties.”
For
more information on the new science program, contact Duncan
Macintosh of IRRI at d.macintosh@cgiar.org
or David Mowbray of CIMMYT at d.mowbray@cgiar.org.
GM PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE
IN U.S. STEADY BUT KNOWLEDGE LOW
Public
acceptance of genetically engineered (GE) foods in North America
is holding steady but knowledge of these foods remain low.
Consumers will respond more positively to products with improved
nutritional quality than products that primarily benefit the
grower or developer of the product. Patrick Byrne of the Colorado
State University forwards these views in “Safety and
Public Acceptance of Transgenic Products” published
in Crop Science 46:113-117(2006).
Byrne
adds that improvements in the regulatory system are needed
to address valid concerns and increase public confidence in
GE crops. Ensuring the existence of a credible regulatory
process is the most important factor in gaining trust. Byrne
discussed shortcomings of the current regulatory system, among
which include the system as operating in a reactive rather
than a proactive mode, fragmented authority among the government
agencies involved in regulation, and few opportunities for
public participation.
“For
society to benefit from GR crops, the most important step
forward is to move away from the polarized positions that
have defined the transgenic debate so far, to positions of
mutual respect that will allow a rational discussion of both
the merits and risks of the technology,” Byrne concludes.
Email
Patrick Byrne at Patrick.Byrne@ColoState.edu
for additional information.
ALMOST HALF
OF BRAZIL’S SOYBEAN HARVEST IS GM
Of
the 58 million tons of soybeans
to be harvested soon in Brazil, nearly half are transgenic.
This figure is expected to be even higher in the coming years,
said Ivo Carraro, director of the Research and Production
of the Brazilian Seed and Transplant Association (ABRASEM)
in a radio interview on “Soybeans – A Big Business”
over Radio Nacional. He noted that Rio Grande do Sul will
be harvesting 100% genetically modified soybean.
The
expansion of transgenic soybean in the country “is only
a question of markets” added João Flávio
Veloso, deputy head of research and development at the Embrapa
(Brazilian Agricultural Research Company) Soybean Unit. He
noted that the federal government's agricultural research
enterprise is working to obtain approval from the new National
Technical Commission on Biosecurity (CTNBio) for various species
discovered by members of its research staff.
The
English translation of this report by Eduardo Mamcasz, reporter
for Agência Brasil is available at http://internacional.radiobras.gov.br/ingles/materia_i_
2004.php?materia=253675&q=1&editoria=.
FAO PUBLISHES
AGRI REPORT
Despite
significant progress in income diversification of rural households,
agriculture is still the principal activity of rural households
in developing countries. This is according to a study detailing
the preliminary results of the Rural Income Generating Activities
(RIGA) project, an undertaking jointly organized by the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, and
the American University in Washington, DC.
The
study shows that 84 percent of rural households participate
in agricultural activities. In some countries, statistics
indicate that the number reaches as high as 99 percent. The
research, however, also states that rural households derive
a large share of their incomes from non-farm rural activities.
The
RIGA project is building a detailed database to show sources
of rural income based on nationally representative household
surveys. Its ultimate objective is to use country-by-country
analysis and cross-country evidence on rural income-generating
activities to help reduce rural hunger and poverty.
For
more information, contact John Riddle at john.riddle@fao.org.
Read the press release at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000214/index.html
WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS
BIOTECH IN AFRICA
A
five-day international workshop on biotechnology and bio-safety
was recently concluded in Accra, Ghana. The workshop was organized
by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA),
in collaboration from the Ministry of Environment and Science.
Present were over 40 participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina
Faso, Togo, Liberia, and South Africa.
Ms.
Christine Churcher, Ghana’s Minister of Environment
and Science, opened the workshop. “Ghana, specifically
and indeed Africa as a whole [needs] to take advantage of
the progress that has been made in modern biotechnology to
be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),”
she told the participants during her opening remarks. She
also added that the progress biotechnology had made in agriculture,
health, energy, and industry could go a long way to help Ghana
to meet the targets set in the MDGs.
Also present at the conference was Professor Walter Sandow
Alhassan, West African Coordinator for the Program for Bio-Safety
Systems (PBS), who expressed regret that no West African country
had yet put in place a biosafety law.
For
more information, contact Linda Asante of Ghana News at lindaagyei13@yahoo.co.uk.
BIOTECH INFO
CENTERS LAUNCHED IN SRI LANKA, PAKISTAN
Sri
Lanka’s University of Colombo recently launched a new
Biotechnology Education and Information center in December
2005. The inauguration ceremony took place at the University’s
Department of Science, with the participation of members of
the industry and the academe. The university’s Vice
Chancellor, Professor T. Hettiarachchi, officially inaugurated
the center. Guests included Prof. Karim Maredia and Dr. Cholani
Weebadde from Michigan State University.
This
new center is a unique initiative to provide biotechnology
education and share science-based biotechnology information
with various stakeholders in Sri Lanka. The center is housed
by the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Colombo
and is a collaborative activity between the University of
Colombo, ISAAA, and Michigan State University in the US.
For
more information, visit the center’s website at http://www.slbic.org.
Similarly,
the Pakistan Biotechnology Information Center (PABIC) was
established at Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Science Center
under the patronage of Dr. Anwar Nasim, Chairman National
Commission on Biotechnology. PABIC is planning to publish
regularly newsletters and web-based information bulletins
on current activities related to biotechnology research and
development Pakistan.
Additional
information about the PBIC can be obtained by emailing Dr.
Iqbal Choudhary of the International Center for Chemical Sciences,
University of Karachi at hej@cyber.net.pk.
PHILRICE TO
PURSUE NEW DIRECTION FOR 2006
The
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) will pursue
a streamlined direction for 2006 with a new R&D program
structure focusing on addressing key constraints to farmers'
production capabilities. The new program is a result of a
review conducted by the PhilRice Program Structure Review
Committee, and consists of three major subjects: favorable
(irrigated lowland) and unfavorable (rain-fed lowland) ecosystems,
and knowledge management and promotion.
“PhilRice
will focus on developing technologies, not just generating
more information,” PhilRice Executive Director Leocadio
S. Sebastian says.
PhilRice
also aims to acquire an ISO 9001 certification on quality
management systems coupled with an OHSAS 18001 certification
on occupational safety and health, both of which they hope
to obtain within the year.
Visit
http://www.philrice.gov.ph
for additional information, or send an email to webteam@philrice.gov.ph.
RESEARCH
FINDS HORMONES THAT RIPEN GRAPES
Based
on their ripening patterns and physiological differences,
fruits can be categorized as climacteric
or non-climacteric.
The first class encompasses fruits which have a well-characterized
peak of the hormone ethylene during the onset of ripening,
and includes fruits such as tomatoes,
apples, and bananas. The second class, on the other hand,
includes species such as citrus, strawberries, grapes,
and other fruits whose ripening processes are not well understood.
The
ripening process is important to food supply, nutrition, and
health, and controlling it may allow fruits to be transported
without worry that they will be bruised or damaged. How this
process occurs in grape is explored in “Grapes on Steroids.
Brassinosteroids Are Involved in Grape Berry Ripening,”
an article by Gregory M. Symons, of the University of Tasmania,
and colleagues. Their work is published in the latest issue
of Plant Physiology.
By
isolating the genes coding for steroidal hormones known as
brassinosteroids
(BRs), and the receptors for their gene products, researchers
confirmed that the grape brassinosteroid-6-oxidase gene is
involved in the grape ripening process. They also found that
applying BRs to grape berries (cv. Cabernet Sauvignon) significantly
promoted ripening, while brassinazole, an inhibitor of BR
biosynthesis, significantly delayed fruit ripening.
Previous
research has shown that BRs are essential for normal plant
growth and development, but they have not hitherto been found
to be involved in ripening. The new findings can aid scientists
in their work on improving grapes, and can likewise allow
researchers a deeper understanding of how ripening can be
controlled in other important non-climacteric fruits.
Subscribers
to Plant Physiology can read the article at http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/140/1/150.
Other readers may take a look at the abstract at http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/
abstract/140/1/150.
MAIZE MOLECULE
ATTRACTS PEST ENEMIES
Plants
can protect themselves from herbivores through a process known
as “indirect defense”: they emit a complex mixture
of plant volatiles to attract natural enemies of the herbivores.
For instance, once attacked by lepidopteran
larvae, maize
releases a mixture that is highly attractive to females of
various parasitic wasp species, natural enemies of the lepidopterans.
Christiane
Schnee, of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology,
and colleagues unscramble the complex mixture and find that
“The products of a single maize sesquiterpene synthase
form a volatile defense signal that attracts natural enemies
of maize herbivores.” Their work is published in the
latest issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
By
overexpressing tps10, the gene coding for terpene synthase
in maize, in Arabidopsis,
researchers were able to grow plants emitting high quantities
of the gene product. These plants were then used as odor sources
in olfactometer assays, where researchers found that females
of the parasitoid Cotesia
marginiventris used the odor to locate their lepidopteran
hosts.
Terpene
synthase is an enzyme which, when activated, allows plant
cells to produce a number of volatiles. Research showed that
introduction of the gene coding only for terpene synthase
was enough to mediate the indirect defense of maize against
herbivore attack – allowing scientists another option
in designing suitable strategies for protecting agricultural
crops against insect pests.
Read the complete article at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/
full/103/4/1129.
TRANSGENIC
AND WILD WHEAT COMPARED
One
aspect of safety studies on genetically modified (GM) crops
involves global gene expression analysis, to see if there
are any differences in gene expression patterns between a
transgenic line and the mother variety. This may be carried
out by studying the messenger RNA molecules (transcript profiling)
or proteins produced by the crop species.
Such
an activity was carried out by Per L. Gregersen and colleagues
of the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, as they
conducted “A microarray-based comparative analysis of
gene expression profiles during grain development in transgenic
and wild type wheat.”
Their work appears in the December 2005 issue of Transgenic
Research.
Researchers
compared gene expression profiles of developing seeds of wild
type wheat and wheat transformed for endosperm-specific expression
of an Aspergillus
fumigatus phytase.
To accomplish this, they crafted a cDNA microarray, and used
the microarray to profile the transgenic wheat
and its mother variety at three developmental stages. Researchers
found that there were only slight differences in gene expression
between either wheat type, and these were for genes which
were strongly expressed over a short interval of seed development.
Read
the abstract at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11248-
005-1526-y. Subscribers to Transgenic Research can download
the complete article on the same page.
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USDA
TO PROMOTE FOOD AT TRADE SHOW
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural
Service invites U.S. food and beverage exporters to showcase
their products in the USA Pavilion at Food Taipei 2006 in
Taipei, Taiwan, June 21-24, 2006. Products with the best prospects
include fresh fruits and vegetables, selected dairy products,
seafood, poultry, beef, snack and health foods, rice, tree
nuts, wines, and fruit juices.
Food Taipei 2006 is Taiwan’s largest international food
and beverage trade show. Last year’s show welcomed 1,789
exhibitors and more than 37,000 trade representatives. Visitors
included industry professionals, hotel and restaurant sector
representatives, and international news media.
For
more information on exhibiting in the USA Pavilion at FOOD
TAIPEI 2006 or for information on other USDA-supported trade
shows, contact Tobitha Jones at Tobitha.Jones@usda.gov.
To find out more about Food Taipei 2006, visit http://www.taipeitradeshows.com.tw/food/.Read
the complete press release at
http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/PressRelease/pressrel_
dout.asp?Entry=valid&PrNum=0007-06.
AGENCY
HOLDS ONLINE CONSULTATION
The
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is holding an online
consultation from January 25 to February 15, 2006 to solicit
feedback on CFIA's efforts to develop preliminary draft guidelines
for regulating the commercial environmental release of plants
with novel traits that produce pharmaceutical and industrial
compounds. Interested parties are requested to contact Tanya
Fielding at fieldingt@inspection.gc.ca. For more information,
visit http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/bio/mf/molecule.shtml.
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