CROP BIOTECH UPDATE
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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 Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)
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October 3, 2008
In This Week’s Issue:
News
Global
• IFPRI Study: Publish or Patent?
Africa
• 1st All Africa Biotechnology Congress in Nairobi
• Kenya Launches National Biotechnology Awareness Strategy
• Study Shows Theoretical Yield Advantage of Bt Cotton in Burkina Faso
• South Africa Marketing and Trade Policies for GM Products
Americas
• New Study Reveals Structures of Important Plant Viruses
• Bayer, KBP Team up to Develop Tobacco-derived Drugs
• UC Scientists Uncover Gene to Develop Toxicity-Resistant Crops
Asia and the Pacific
• Bt Cotton Acreage Rises 20 Percent in India
• AFIC Study: Asian Consumers Ready for Food Biotech Benefits
• Comment Sought for Limited Release of GM Maize in Australia
• Vietnam Plans Trials for GM Corn
• Scientists Identify Rice Gene to Improve Yield
• Pakistani Scientists Develop New ’UG99’ Resistant Wheat
• Chitinase Gene Induced Resistance to Fungus Disease in Rice
Europe
• New Figures Show Increase in European GM Crop Cultivation
• Increased GM Planting for Czech Republic
• Spain Grows More Biotech Maize in 2008
• European Commission Transmits Proposal to Authorize RoundupReady2
Research
• HIV Antigen Production in Transgenic Plants
• Researchers Map Northern Root-Knot Nematode Genome
Announcements
• Climate Change and Impacts on Food Safety and Nutrition
• AusBiotech 2008
Document Reminders
• The Biology of Maize
• Biosafety Regulations of Asia-Pacific Countries
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NEWS
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Global
IFPRI STUDY: PUBLISH OR PATENT?
“Publish or Patent? Knowledge Dissemination in Agricultural Biotechnology”, a discussion paper published by the International Food Policy Research Institute, notes a significant shift from fundamental to applied research in developing countries such as China and India. In addition, a trend from journal publications to patents as a means of knowledge dissemination during the past few decades has also been noticed.
Authors An Michiels and Bonwoo Koo say that the trend poses several challenges. First, patents tend to limit access to the technology, since they require users to obtain a licensing agreement with the patent holder. Second, public sector institutes, which use others’ proprietary technologies without acquiring formal license, are increasingly vulnerable to patent infringement claims. Third, there has been a small movement toward open access to technology in the biotechnology area, similar to open-source projects in the software industry.
Go to http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/ifpridp00795.asp for a copy of the discussion paper.
Over 400 scientists, policy makers, media experts, farmers, researchers, development partners, regulators and entrepreneurs from all over the world met in Nairobi, Kenya on September 22-26, 2008 to discuss the future of biotechnology in Africa. An insight was that despite Africa’s need to apply modern biotechnology to boost agricultural productivity, it has been affected primarily by prolonged delays in enacting requisite biosafety laws and fear of jeopardizing trade with the European Union. The heightened anti-biotechnology activities in Africa have not helped matters too.
In his keynote address , Dr. Clive James, chair of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), stressed that "there is no silver bullet to the food insecurity in Africa and the rest of the developing world, but biotechnology must be looked at as one of the most important tools that will contribute to increased food production and thus, poverty reduction." He suggested combining the best of conventional technology with biotechnology to increase food production.
Kenya’s Agriculture Minister William Ruto told the Congress of his desire for all African countries to adopt enabling biotechnology policies to “fast-track the integration of Africa into the global bio-economy". In a final communiqué, the congress participants resolved to support responsible application of modern agricultural biotechnology in the fight against hunger, malnutrition, poverty and disease on the continent. The two key core organizers of the Congress - African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF) and African Union (AU) - were mandated to hold another congress within two or three years to review progress in biotechnology development and adoption on the continent.
For more information, contact Daniel Otunge of ISAAA AfriCenter at d.otunge@cgiar.org.
The government of Kenya has launched a National Biotechnology Awareness Strategy (BioAWARE-Kenya) aimed at improving public understanding and awareness of biotechnology through dissemination of accurate, timely and balanced information to catalyze informed decision making. The six-year (2008-2013) strategy was developed through a participatory process involving public, private and voluntary organizations. In Africa, only South Africa has such a national strategy.
Speaking during the launch which was attended by over 300 stakeholders, Agriculture Minister William Ruto underscored the importance of biotechnology in achieving food security, improving health and protecting the environment. He called for caution while implementing the strategy because “communication is like the carpenter’s hammer. If used properly, it can drive the nail into the wood, but if used carelessly, it can harm the thumb of the user. Thus communication can repair or destroy.”
The minister cautioned against using cheap propaganda to undermine the country’s efforts to establish necessary legal and institutional infrastructure for responsible application of biotechnology for national development. “We should remind ourselves that the debates must be considered in the context of the country’s dire need for more and cheaper foods. We must refrain from cheap propaganda and embrace science-based dialogue.”
For more information, contact Daniel Otunge of ISAAA AfriCenter at d.otunge@cgiar.org.
“Biosafety at the Crossroads: An Analysis of South Africa’s Marketing and Trade Policies for Genetically Modified Products”, a discussion paper published by the International Food Policy Research Institute, forwards suggestions on how South Africa “can better adapt to global changes, manage risks rigorously but efficiently, and take advantage of safe new technologies”.
Authors Guillaume P. Gruère and Debdatta Sengupta proposes broad recommendations, among them:
An abstract of the full paper can be downloaded at http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/ifpridp00796.asp
Flexible filamentous viruses are one of the most destructive groups of plant viruses known. Members of the group include the potato virus X, the citrus leaf blotch virus, the soybean mosaic virus and apple stem pitting virus. The 300-plus species of filamentous viruses are responsible for more than half the viral damage to crop plants throughout the world. But compared to other viruses, very little is known about their structures.
A study, published in the current issue of the journal of Virology, reveals new details on the structures of the important virus group. Viruses are much too small to see with an optical microscope. So the scientists, from six U.S. research institutions, had to use a combination of imaging techniques — x-ray diffraction, cryo-electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy — in order to elucidate the viral structures. The scientists found out that all flexible filamentous plant viruses share common structures: a common coat protein fold and a ’spiral’ symmetry featuring nine molecular subunits per helical turn.
The structural information that the researchers have obtained may allow scientists to engineer molecules that can interfere with the viruses’ ability to infect plants. Another possible application would be to use modified viruses to introduce genes that instruct plants to make other useful products — such as antibiotics or other drugs.
Read the full article at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/exploration/stories/filamentous.html Subscribers can download the paper published by the Journal of Virology at http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/82/19/9546
Bayer Innovation GmBH announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Kentucky Bioprocessing (KBP), a biotechnology company focusing on commercial scale production of proteins from plants, to advance the manufacture of drugs and “high-value” products from tobacco plants. Under terms of the agreement, KBP will adapt its existing facility by installing an automated system for high throughput transfection of tobacco host plants. The collaboration makes KBP the preferred production partner for the application of magnICON, a non-GM process for rapid and high-yield production of biopharmaceuticals in plants.
Detlef Wollweber, General Manager of Bayer Innovation, said that KBP was the ideal partner for the project due to its excellent facilities and highly-qualified workforce. The company is currently developing plant-derived vaccines for influenza and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Bayer is also teaming up with the National University of Singapore on three joint projects in the field of oncology.
Read the press release at http://www.bayer-innovation.com/en/News-2008-09-29-Manufacturing-basis-for-biopharmaceuticals-broadend.aspx#pagetop
Plant biologists at the University of California, Riverside see hope for crops to thrive in areas that contain aluminum. Aluminum toxicity affects crop growth in nearly 20 percent of the world’s arable soils. In the journal Current Biology, Paul Larsen and Megan Rounds report that they have discovered a simple mutation to a single gene that makes plants thrive in spite of levels of aluminum that would normally be toxic. They found the gene, called AtATR, by combing through mutants of Arabidopsis.
Toxic aluminum ions are known to damage DNA. The study suggests that plants respond by shutting down growth of cells in the tips of their roots when they accumulate too much DNA damage.
Nonsubscribers to the journal can read a short article on the discovery at http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/21454/
According to figures released by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB), Indian farmers cultivated 20 percent more area to GM cotton in 2008. MMB estimates that four million farmers planted Bollgard II and Bollgard Bt cotton on 17.2 million acres, equivalent to 76 percent of India’s total cotton acres, in Kharif 2008. Farmers in India have a choice from over 150 Bollgard II and Bollgard Bt cotton hybrid seed varieties. Business Standard reports that the area cultivated to Bt cotton in the country has steadily increased from 8.7 million acres in 2006 to 14.4 million acres in 2007.
For more information, read http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200809/146295919.pdf
Consumers are ready to accept benefits from biotechnology-derived foods. Genetically modified foods will most likely become an increasing feature of the Asian diet due to the region’s growing demand for high volumes of quality food. These were highlights of a consumer survey conducted by the Asian Food Information Centre (AFIC) in five Asian countries - China, India, Japan, Philippines and South Korea.
“This recent survey is one of the few that objectively measures opinions and perceptions of Asian consumers in relation to food biotechnology and can be considered as a benchmark for the region. An important outcome of the survey is that amidst heightened media attention on food concerns, Asian consumers have high confidence in the role food biotechnology can play for future food supply and are open-minded about the various benefits food biotech products can bring,” said George Fuller, Executive Director of AFIC. Other key findings of the research reveal that:
Australia’s Department of Health and Ageing, Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) is inviting for comments on a request from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) for the limited and controlled release of up to 11 genetically modified (GM) maize lines. The purpose of the trial is to conduct basic research to investigate gene function in maize in order to improve characteristics that may be of agronomic importance. The trial is proposed to take place at one site, on a maximum of 750 m2 in the Australian Capital Territory. The same site would be re-planted with GM maize for up to five growing seasons from 2008-13.
OGTR has prepared a consultation Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan (RARMP), which concludes that the proposed release would pose negligible risk to human health and safety or to the environment. CSIRO proposed a number of controls to restrict the dissemination or persistence of the GM maize lines into the environment that have been considered during the evaluation of the application.
For more information, visit http://www.ogtr.gov.au/internet/ogtr/publishing.nsf/Content/dir086-2008
Vietnam is set to begin trials for biotech corn early next year. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Binh, executive vice director of the Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City, said that if the biotech varieties are found to be biologically and environmentally safe after two years of experimental trials, farmers would then be allowed to grow the crop. Bihn made these announcements at a seminar on biotechnology in Hanoi.
Binh added that initially, GM corn seeds would most likely be imported from the Philippines. Once biotech corn is approved for commercialization, Binh projects Vietnamese farmers to earn an additional US$100 a hectare from planting biotech corn as compared with conventional corn.
See the news item at http://www.thanhniennews.com/
A team of scientists, including Hong Ma, Penn State distinguished professor of biology, has identified a gene in rice that controls the size and weight of rice grains. The gene has the potential to help breed high-yield rice. The team’s results were published in an online edition of the journal Nature Genetics.
The scientists hope that their findings will help create hybrid varieties of rice that produce larger grains. They plan to perform additional analyses that will help them to understand how other genes might be involved in the process of improving rice yield. "The goal is to understand what controls grain weight and other factors, and to look for ways to increase yield," said Ma.
The research was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Science Foundation of China and the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences.
See Penn State’s news article at http://live.psu.edu/story/34885
Scientists from the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) in Faisalabad, Pakistan have developed a new wheat variety ‘Lasani 2008’ that is resistant to stem rust ‘UG99’ type disease. The efforts of AARI scientists to solve this threat is highly beneficial for the country said Dr Muhammad Rashid, Director General of Agriculture (Research), while briefing Col. Shuja Khanzada, Chairman and Chief Minister of the Task Force on Agriculture at AARI.
Dr. Rashid stated that the institute has developed 373 new varieties of crops, fruits and vegetables. These include cotton varieties resistant to leaf curl virus and sugarcane varieties with high sugar recovery .
View the article at: http://www.pabic.com.pk/25%20September,%2008%20AARI%20deve%20UG99.html and http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\09\26\story_26-9-2008_pg5_16
Researchers from Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University and Suranaree Technology University, Thailand, successfully cloned chitinase genes from seeds of several local plant species. Among these, a chitinase gene from the lead tree Leucaena leucocephala inhibited growth of 13 out of 14 fungal species. This gene was transferred into KDML105 Thai rice and Japonica rice via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Both transgenic rice varieties showed resistance to the fungal pathogen Fusarium moniliforme.
Read the Thai version of the research at http://www.trf.or.th/News/Content.asp?Art_ID=899
Latest figures released by the European Biotech Industry Association (Europabio) show that the area planted to genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe has grown by 21 percent since last year. The increase was noted despite the ten-year moratorium on new product approvals in the EU. Bt maize, which was approved in 1998, is the only GM crop grown in the region.
This year 107,719 hectares of GM maize was planted. The cultivated acreage of biotech crops increased over ten fold in Poland and Romania in 2008, doubled in Slovakia and increased substantially (68%) in the Czech Republic versus 2007. In Spain, where most of the EU’s biotech crops are grown, the cultivated acreage continues to increase, this year by 5 percent, after 11 years of planting.
Read the press release at http://www.europabio.org/articles/GBE/EuropaBio%20Press%20Release%20cultivation%20figures%202008_290908.pdf
Czech Republic has currently 8,000 hectares of land planted to genetically modified maize, a 3,000 hectare increase over last year’s area, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Continuing problems with the European corn borer has resulted to increased adoption of the GM maize by Czech farmers. Prague Daily Monitor reports that the number of GM maize growers rose by 40 year-on-year to 171. The GM crop was first cultivated in the country in 2005 on 270 hectares of land.
According to the news agency, most GM maize is grown in the Jihomoravsky region in southern Moravia (more than 2,000 hectares), followed by the Stredocesky region in central Bohemia (more than 1,600 hectares, including Prague) and Plzensky region in western Bohemia (more than 900 hectares).
For more information, read http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/426/czech_business/28204/
Data from Spain's Ministry of Agriculture shows that the country increased its hectarage planted to different genetically modified (GM) maize varieties in 2008. From 75,148 hectares in 2007, a total of 79,268 hectares were devoted to biotech maize or an additional 4,121 hectares. Of the cotton growing areas, Aragon continued to be the top grower with 31,857 hectares followed by Cataluna with 25,298 hectares, and Extremadura with 10,416 hectares. Extremadura registered the highest increase in hectarage with four thousand more hectares over 2007 data.
The Ministry data is available at http://www.mapa.es/agricultura/pags/semillas/estadisticas/serie_maizgm98_06.
The European Commission will transmit to the European Council a proposal to authorize Monsanto’s RoundupReady2 GM soybean for import and processing and food and feed uses after Member States did not endorse it during a meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH).
The Commission tabled the proposal following an application submitted by Monsanto and a favorable scientific assessment from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which addressed all safety concerns. EFSA concluded that following its intended use, RoundupReady2 is as safe as its non-GM counterparts with respect to potential effects on human and animal health or the environment.
If the Council does not reach a position within three months, the proposal will be sent back to the Commission for final adoption.
The press release is available at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEX/08/0930&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en For more information, visit http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biotechnology/index_en.htm
Development and production of a suitable vaccine is the ultimate goal in the attempts to stop the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Despite more than 20 years of intense research efforts, however, there is still no effective vaccine in sight. The ideal vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), scientists say, should efficiently prevent virus transmission and at the same time be provided at very low cost to allow widespread use in developing countries.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Germany and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom explored the potential of transplastomic plants to produce HIV antigens as potential components of an AIDS vaccine. The scientists specifically expressed the HIV antigens p24, which is the major target of T-cell-mediated immune responses in HIV-positive individuals, and Nef in tobacco and tomato plastids.
Optimized p24-Nef fusion gene cassettes trigger antigen protein accumulation to up to approximately 40 percent of the leaf protein. This is a yield 100-fold higher than that obtained in previous attempts to produce p24 by conventional nuclear transformation and demonstrates the enormous potential of plastid transformation for large scale production of pharmaceutical proteins in plants. The scientists hypothesize that the mild phenotype seen in transgenic plants result from the exhaustion of the gene expression capacity of the chloroplast by overuse of its ribosomes for the production of the recombinant protein.
Subscribers can download the paper published by the Plant Biotechnology Journal at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7652.2008.00356.x Nonsubscribers can read the abstract at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121393720/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
North Carolina State University scientists and colleagues have deciphered the complete genome sequence and genetic map of the Northern root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hapla. The parasitic worm, along with other species of root-knot nematode, causes an estimated $50 billion in crop and plant damage annually. The research could help lead to a new generation of eco-friendly tools to manage the ubiquitous worm.
With only 54 million base pairs (Mbp), M. hapla represents not only the smallest nematode genome yet completed, but also the smallest metazoan. The genome might be smaller, the researchers say, because the inside of the host plant’s root provides an isolated environment compared to the soil. The scientists also found out that the root-knot nematode encodes approximately 5,500 fewer protein-coding genes than does the free living, model worm Caenorhabditis elegans. The difference between M. hapla’s and C. elegans’ genome, according to scientists, substantiated the earlier hypothesis that horizontal gene transfer played a role in evolution of parasitism.
The team has deposited the resulting sequence data in public databases. Read the full article at http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2008/09/136mkoppermanbirdpnas.htm The paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is available at http://www.pnas.org/content/105/39/14802.abstract
The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO Europe), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will organize an open seminar on 14 October 2008 addressing "Climate Change and its Health Impacts on Food/Water Safety and Nutrition". The event will be held in relation to this year’s World Food Day on “World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy”. The seminar will be held in English and Italian with simultaneous interpretation.
For more information, visit http://www.efsa.eu.int/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753824_1211902108622.htm
“Building a Bioeconomy” is the theme of AusBiotech 2008, Australia’s Biotechnology Conference, to be held at the Melbourne Convention Centre on October 26 to 29, 2008. The conference program together with a BioIndustry Exhibition and Business Matching Program will bring together representatives from the global biotechnology industry.
For registration information visit http://www.ausbiotech2008.com.au/
Australia’s Office of the Gene Technology Regulator has updated its document on the biology of Zea mays. The document provides an overview of baseline biological information relevant to risk assessment of genetically modified maize varieties that may be released into the Australian environment.
Download the paper at http://www.ogtr.gov.au/internet/ogtr/publishing.nsf/Content/maize-3/$FILE/biologymaize08.pdf