Articles in the February 24, 2012 Issue of Crop Biotech Update

NEWS

Global
• Global Network to Do Research on Plant Biology
• Small Holder Farmers Benefit from Second Phase of Tropical Legumes Project
• Call for Nominations to Agriculture Award to Honor Young Field Researchers

Africa
• Ghana's Biosafety Law Receives Presidential Assent
• Project on Under-Studied Crops in Eastern and Central Africa

Americas
• Scientists Reveal Origin of Photosynthesis
• Bayer and Texas AgriLife Research to Work on Improved Wheat Varieties
• USDA Extends Comment Period for Corn Genetically Engineered for Herbicide Tolerance
• Wheat Research in Canada Given Government Funds
• BREAD Grant Funds Research to Tackle Plant Viral Diseases
• Weeds and Diseases Stress Sweet Corn Growth
• Western Great Plains Growers Gearing Up To Plant Monsanto's New DroughtGard^TM

Asia and the Pacific
• Frost Nurseries Identify Tolerant Grain Varieties
• Philippine Local Government Officials Participate in Biotech Seminar
• Pakistan Exposition Highlights Need for Advanced Scientific Research
• Pakistani Farmers Seek Government Approval for GM Corn

Europe
• EFSA Releases Opinion on Safety Assessment of GM Plants Developed Through Cisgenesis and Intragenesis
• GM Soybean MON 87701 x MON89788 Safe for EU Import and Processing
• Spelman: GM Rice as Tool for Food Security
• EU Chief Scientific Adviser Sees Need to Tackle Global Food Issues with Biotech

Research
• Nutritional Analysis of GM Rice Varieties in Korea
• Altering Respiratory Activity in GM Tobacco Using mDNA Fragments
• OSOTP 51 Mutation in Rice Leads to Impairment of PSI Complex

Announcements
• 16th International Symposium of the International Society of Tropical Root Crops

Document Reminders
• Crop Post-Harvest Science and Technology: Perishables

Scientists Reveal Origin of Photosynthesis

An international team of scientists led by Prof. Debashish Bhattacharya of Rutgers University conducted a study that is considered as the final piece of the photosynthesis evolution puzzle. Their study titled Cyanophora paradoxa genome elucidates origin of photosynthesis in algae and plants is published this week in the journal Science.

The team sequenced the 70 million base pair nuclear genome of Cyanophora, a single-celled alga that has retained much of the ancestral gene diversity common between algae and plants. The team used the Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx in Rutgers to get the data which provided the conclusive proof that all plastids trace their origin to a single primary endosymbiosis, which has been believed to be the event that led to the development of photosynthetic species.

Read more at http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/news-releases/2012/02/the-origin-of-photos-20120220.

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This article is part of the Crop Biotech Update, a weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Aquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)

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