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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November 6, 2009

In This Week’s Issue:

News

Global
• Science is Critical to Address Agricultural Challenges, Says CSIRO's Peacock
• CGIAR Highlights East Timor in Efforts to Achieve Food Security
• Post-harvest Losses Still A Problem

Africa
• Improved Biotech Reporting through Media Training in Africa
• New High Yielding Hybrid Sorghum Varieties

Americas
• Gates Foundation Gives USD1 Million to the Borlaug Scholars Fund
• Researchers Plot Molecular Sabotage Against Major Grain Pest
• Scientists to Create Sweet Potato Genomics Toolkit

Asia and the Pacific
• Australian Researchers Working to Develop Drought-Tolerant Wheat
• Genetic Improvement of Palm Oil in Thailand
• TWAS Regional Young Scientists Conference in Malaysia
• Monsanto Opens Biotech Research Facility in China

Europe
• EU Approves Three GM Maize Strains
• New Turkish Regulation Blocks Import of GM Food and Feed
• Wageningen Researchers to Study Spread of the Rice Intensification System
• Iron Content in Polished Rice Increased Six-Fold

Research
• Draft Genetic Sequence of Cucumber Completed By Chinese Scientists
• Researchers Identify Xanthomonas Signaling Molecule
• Novel Gene that Controls Seed Size Found

Announcements
• 5^th International Conference on Plant Pathology
• 2nd Annual Biotech Humanitarian Award
• USDA APHIS Biotech Regulatory Stakeholders Meeting

Document Reminders
• Revised Pocket K 35 on "Bt Brinjal in India" Available in 8 Indian Languages



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NEWS
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Global
SCIENCE IS CRITICAL TO ADDRESS AGRICULTURAL CHALLENGES, SAYS CSIRO'S PEACOCK

The challenge is to produce enough food for the global population in addition to addressing issues related to climate change and the environment. "If we are to meet this challenge, science is critical," said William James Peacock of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Plant Industry during the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference: Agricultural Biotechnology for Better Living and a Clean Environment held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand last September 22-25, 2009.

"The GM plant breeding tool is a valuable addition to the armory of the plant breeder. It is time now for trust in our regulatory authorities, just as we have trusted them in non-GM food and agricultural testing up to now," Peacock added. He stressed that in addition to science, it is also important to consider national and international policies for GM crops and foods, science investments, and consumer acceptance and choice.

For more details about W. Peacock's talk, visit http://www.safetybio.agri.kps.ku.ac.th/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6739&Itemid=47

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a strategic alliance of members, partners, and 15 international agricultural research centers that mobilizes science to benefit the poor, featured the Seeds of Life initiative in its November website feature to illustrate East Timor's experience as an "instructive microcosm of global efforts to achieve food security." CGIAR notes that the initiative to boost food production highlights the potential of research to strengthen food security even in a country facing post-conflict problems. 

The program helped introduce improved germplasm of East Timor's five most important staple crops – maize, peanut, rice, cassava and sweetpotato from CGIAR Centers that provided materials from countries with similar agroecologies. It also established a system for evaluating and disseminating new crop cultivars to ensure their relevance and sustainability. Farmers were involved in participatory evaluation of new cultivars in close collaboration with nongovernment organizations.

View the CGIAR feature article at http://cgiar.org/monthlystory/november2009.html

Post-harvest losses remain to be a problem in developing countries but with adequate investment and training, these could be significantly reduced. According to a press release by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food losses contribute to high food prices, environmental degradation and climate change.

FAO says that it is collaborating with the World bank and donor partners to train people in three continents on the proper handling of food products. Through revolving funds and loans, FAO is also able to facilitate the diffusion of better storage containers, and establish innovative institutional mechanisms.

Read FAO's press release at http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/36844/icode/

Media educators from ten journalism and mass communication institutions in the Eastern Africa region took part in a training workshop this week to help them better report on biotechnology and biofuels using radio as a case study. The training workshop was organized by ISAAA AfriCenter in collaboration with the School of Journalism and Mass Communications of the University of Nairobi with financial support from UNESCO.

The training originated from the realization that building capacity of media educators on advanced radio interviewing skills and exposure to basic concepts on the subject would have a multiplier effect from training a larger pool of journalists. This would enhance regional capacity with potential to institutionalize specialized writing on biotechnology in journalism training curriculum. Mr. Hezekiel Dlamini, the UNESCO advisor for communication and information in East Africa, challenged the media and the scientists to find a common language of interaction in promoting factual, balanced and unbiased reporting of biotechnology. The Director of Extension and Training in Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture Mary Kamau emphasized the importance of mass media in creating awareness on biotechnology which she observed is very low in the region.

The trainers were drawn from higher institutions of learning in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. They decried lack of public policy pronouncements on biotechnology that left majority of stakeholders prone to misinformation. Many journalists in the region have been highly critical of biotechnology, associating genetically modified foods with unsubstantiated adverse effects on human health and the environment. The trainers came up with a Course Outline which they committed to implement either in current curriculum or as short-training courses. A training module will also be developed which upon validation will be availed to all journalism training institutions in respective countries to ensure continuity.

For more information contact africenter@isaaa.org.

Three new hybrid sorghum varieties that can quadruple Mali's harvests of the country's staple food crop have just been released by local breeders. According to Dr. Bino Teme, director of the Rural Economic Institute (IER),  Fadda, Sigui Kumbe and Sewa hybrids can produce 3, 3.5 and 4 metric tonnes (MT) per hectare, respectively. In contrast, Sakoika, the local seed variety, produces up to 1.5 MT per hectare and only if grown with adequate farm inputs.

IER is set to train seed producers on the breeding techniques and conduct seed promotion activities among farmers. "We have to continue with the demonstrations because we have different kinds of farmers; some will adopt the hybrids immediately, while others employ await and see approach," Teme said.

See the full report at http://www.agra-alliance.org/content/general/detail/1042/

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made a contribution of USD 1 million to the Borlaug International Scholars Fund to train future international agricultural leaders. This gift was the first major donation to the memorial fund, which was established through the nonprofit Texas A&M Foundation. The Scholars Fund helps students from developing countries pursue graduate studies in agriculture, rural development and related fields at Texas A&M and other U.S. land-grant universities.

"The grant to the Borlaug International Scholars Fund will allow students with demonstrated commitment to fighting global hunger further their educations," said Dr. Don Doering, a program officer in the Agricultural Development initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Training future generations of scientists is crucial to helping millions of small farmers and their families lift themselves out of hunger and poverty with new knowledge and tools."

"[The contribution] will give promising students the tools and motivation to be leaders in worldwide agricultural development. It honors a great visionary and ensures his critical work will continue. We're honored to manage this endowment on behalf of Dr. Borlaug and his family," said Ed Davis, president of the Texas A&M Foundation.

For more information, read http://agnews.tamu.edu/showstory.php?id=1511

An international research consortium has recently completed the genome sequence of the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, a notorious invader of stored grains and grain products. Aided by the genome map, researchers at the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Kansas State University led by Richard W. Beeman have begun plotting a kind of molecular sabotage on the beetle's basic life functions.

The researchers are using RNA interference to shut down the expression of chitin deacetylase (CDA) genes. CDAs regulate the formation of chitin, the main component of the insect's exoskeleton. "We can knock out the function of any one of these particular deacetylase genes and observe whether the insect can survive and exactly how its development is disrupted in the absence of each gene," says Beeman. In early studies, larvae of beetle strains lacking the CDA genes failed to reach adulthood. The researchers are also exploring ways to formulate chitin-disabling pesticides.

The original article is available at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov09/pests1109.htm

Brian Scheffler and colleagues at the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have launched a project to create a genomics toolkit to help plant breeders develop improved sweetpotato varieties. Despite its importance, sweetpotato has an image of being an underrated crop with respect to research. Very little genomics information is available in a form that sweetpotato breeders can use to develop new varieties for enhanced nutrition or improved resistance to diseases and stress.

Scheffler and colleagues will work to develop and locate DNA markers on the 90 chromosomes of sweetpotato. They will also use a high-throughput DNA sequencer to develop a sweetpotato microarray for studying where, when and how certain genes are expressed. Of particular interest to Scheffler, who has received USD 120,000 in funding through the ARS' 2010 T.W. Edminster Award, are genes affecting rhizome production, especially during stress related to environmental factors such as drought.

Read the original story at http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=1261

An international team of researchers, led by Gonzalo Estavillo and Barry Pogson at the Australian National University, has pinpointed a gene in Arabidopsis that allow plants to survive drought. Estavillo and colleagues identified the gene, called SAL1, when they were looking at different mutant varieties of Arabidopsis that had unusual responses to high light. Mutations in SAL1 enable plants to survive longer without added water. The researchers said that they are now in the process of introducing the mutant characteristics into the elite wheat cultivars currently used in agriculture industry.

"The ultimate aim of the project is to develop wheat lines with improved drought tolerance and water use," explained Dr Estavillo. "The next step will be to identify wheat mutant plants lacking SAL1 genes identified by molecular biology procedures. We expect that these mutants should remain green, turgid and photosynthetically active, producing more leaves, flowers and seeds during mild to moderate water deficit." Estavillo noted that because the basis of the mutation is a missing gene it would be possible to create drought tolerant wheat plants without resorting to transgenic methods.

Drought tolerant wheat plants may prove to be important in the future. Climate models predict that a vast wheat growing areas of southern Australia will become drastically drier over the next 50 years.

For more information, read http://news.anu.edu.au/?p=1738

Under Thailand's 15-year Alternative Energy Plan, the government intends to promote the use of bioenergy produced from ethanol, biodiesel, biomass, and biogas. These alternative fuels can be made from raw materials that are abundant in Thailand such as cassava, sugar, rice and palm oil says Kulwarang Suwanasri of the Policy Study and Biosafety Division, National Center for Genetic Engineering nd Biotechnology (BIOTEC).

Palm oil is the major raw material for biodiesel production because of its low cost. To raise the production of palm oil to meet increasing demands, the Ministry of Agriculture has put up a development plan to achieve higher yields i.e. to raise production to 20 tons per hectare through genetic improvement of the crop and adopting better management techniques. Other raw materials available in Thailand that can potentially be used for biodiesel production include used vegetable oil and oils extracted from coconut, soy bean, ground nut, castor, sesame, sunflower and jatropha.

See the full article at http://home.biotec.or.th/NewsCenter/my_documents/my_files/12F49_THAILAND_BIOTECH_GUID.pdf or http://www.safetybio.agri.kps.ku.ac.th/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6738&Itemid=47

Malaysia was a proud host this week for the TWAS Regional Young Scientists Conference with the theme Food, Health and Fuel: Plants for the Future. This conference was organized by The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), Regional Office for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific (ROESEAP), Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), and Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). MABIC joined the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation, and Novel Plants Sdn Bhd in supporting this conference.

The conference was officiated by the Deputy Minister of MOSTI , Haji Fadillah bin Haji Yusof, who in his officiating speech emphasized the need to work towards food security, and meeting the demand for biofuels and biomaterials from renewable, plant-based resources. Prof. Farida Habib Shah, the chair of the organizing committee, initiated this conference with an aim to bring together both young and prominent scientist from all over Asia to share their research findings and to discuss future prospects of collaboration in line with the objectives of TWAS.

The conference focussed on bioenergy, food security, and medicinal plants for health. Jatropha, okra, microalgae, Moringa oleifera, and ignocellulosic waste were some of the feedstock for biofuel that were presented. Under the food security session, biofortification of rice, improving wheat, chickpea, and sweet potato, and the use of microorganisms to control disease and pests were presented. Anti-cancer activity of plants was a popular topic under the medicinal plant session. Speakers and participants came from India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Pakistan, Myanmar, Mexico, China, Philippines, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Ghana.

Email Mahaletchumy Arujanan of the Malaysia Biotechnology Information Center at maha@bic.org.my for additional information about the conference.

Monsanto Company has recently launched its first biotechnology research center in China. Monsanto Biotechnology Research Center in Zhongguancun, Beijing will participate in early-stage bioinformatics and genomics research and serve as a base for collaborations with Chinese scientists, the company said in a press release. Monsanto also has research centers in India, Brazil and the US.

Monsanto said that the center demonstrates "its commitment to forming technology collaborations in the country." Recently, the company entered into collaboration with the Huazhong Agricultural University to further gene discovery and the development of novel biotechnology traits. The company also established a RMB 1 million (USD 150,000) scholarship at the university to encourage students to pursue careers in biotechnology research.

"We are pleased that Monsanto, the leading agricultural biotech company, is setting up a research center in China. Biotech is an important solution to increase crop productivity. Technology innovation and improvement will be determining factors for agriculture sustainability," said Zhai Huqu, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS).

The press release is available at http://monsanto.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=765

The EU Commission has approved three genetically modified maize strains for food, feed and processing across its 27 member states. Monsanto's insect resistant YieldGard VT Pro (MON 89034) and insect resistant and herbicide tolerant YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2 (MON 88017), as well as DuPont's stacked Herculex RW/ Roundup Ready Corn 2 can now be imported into the European Union. Similar to earlier authorizations, the Commission issued the approval after the Council of Ministers failed to reach a consensus.

The approval follows the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) scientific opinions concluding that the GM maize strains "are unlikely to have any adverse effect on human and animal health or on the environment."

For more information, read http://www2.dupont.com/Media_Center/en_US/daily_news/november/article20091103.html and http://monsanto.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=763

The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a biotech regulation last week that bans all imports of food and feed that might contain genetically-engineered material, pending approval by an as-yet non-existent committee. The new regulation goes into effect immediately and would also require all biotech products to be labeled. This regulation came without warning, said the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS). The FAS also noted that the approval system "does not appear to be based on standard international risk assessment procedures."

The total value of U.S. transgenic crop exports to Turkey, including cotton, corn soy and their derivatives, exceeded USD 1 billion in 2007, said FAS.

The USDA FAS GAIN report, which include an unofficial translation of the regulation, is available at http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/New%20Turkish%20Regulation%20Bans%20Imports%20of%20Biotech%20Food%20and%20Feed_Ankara_Turkey_10-28-2009.pdf The official text of the regulation is available (in Turkish only) at http://rega.basbakanlik.gov.tr/

 Researchers at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands are embarking on a project to investigate the adoption, spread and potential benefits of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). SRI is a methodology that proponents say increases the productivity of irrigated rice cultivation by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients. It has actively been promoted for the last decade to farmers as a best management practice by some governments and NGOs. The system however is not without its critics.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-supported project will look at how SRI evolved over time in different agro-ecologies and examine the reasons underlying farmers' adoption, nonadoption or disadoption. The Wageningen team is part of a wider research network that includes researchers from Cornell University, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines and various partners in Asia and Africa. The Wageningen team noted that most studies evaluating SRI have focused almost exclusively on its technical aspects and its economic effects on farmers' livelihoods. Their study will take into account social interactions and communication processes that take place between farmers and the various government institutions and NGOs that are involved in promoting SRI.

For more information, read http://www.wageningenuniversity.nl/UK/newsagenda/news/SRI091103e.htm

Using transgenic methods, scientists from ETH Zurich, Switzerland have succeeded in increasing the iron content in polished rice more than six-fold by transferring two plant genes into an existing rice variety. This was reported by Wilhelm Gruissem of the Department of Biology, ETH Zurich during the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference: Agricultural Biotechnology for Better Living and a Clean Environment held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand last September 22-25, 2009.

Peeled rice, also called polished rice, does not have enough iron to satisfy the daily requirement, even if consumed in large quantities. The research team discovered that rice plants express the two genes to produce the enzyme nicotianamin synthase, which mobilizes iron, and the protein ferritin, which stores iron. Their synergistic action, says Gruissem, allows the rice plant to absorb more iron from the soil and store it in the rice kernel. The product of nicotianamine synthase, called nicotianamin, binds the iron temporarily and facilitates its transportation in the plant.

More details at http://www.safetybio.agri.kps.ku.ac.th/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6764&Itemid=47

Cucumber is an economically important crop as well as a model system for sex determination studies and plant vascular biology. The draft genome sequence of Cucumis sativus var. sativus L. was completed by Chinese scientists at the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences with a novel combination of traditional Sanger and next-generation Illumina GA sequencing technologies. Results were published online in Nature Genetics on November 1, 2009.

In this study, scientists obtained 72.2-fold genome coverage and the results established that five of the cucumber's seven chromosomes arose from fusions of ten ancestral chromosomes after divergence from Cucumis melo. The sequenced cucumber genome affords insight into traits such as its sex expression, disease resistance, biosynthesis of cucurbitacin and 'fresh green' odor, and also provides a valuable resource for developing elite cultivars and studying the evolution and function of the plant vascular system.

The full text is available at http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ng.475.html

In 1995, Pamela Ronals and colleagues at the University of California, Davis showed that that the rice Xa21 resistance gene confer immunity to diverse strains of the Gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae , the causal agent of the rice bacterial blight disease. Now Ronald and her team identified the bacterial signaling molecule that binds to the receptor, triggering a defense response against the bacterial disease. "The new discovery of this bacterial signaling molecule helps us better understand how the innate immune system operates," Ronald said in the paper published in this week's edition of Science.

The signaling peptide, ax21, is also found in many other species of Xanthomonas as well as in Xylella fastidiosa, a microbe that causes the devastating Pierce's disease in grapes, according to the researchers. The peptide is also produced by a bacterium that causes urinary tract infection in humans."We are hopeful that these discoveries will benefit agriculture and medicine in the United States and around the world by leading to development of treatments that will disrupt bacterial infection," she said.

The paper published by Science is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1173438 For more information, read http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9274

Scientists at the University of Freiberg in Germany and the John Innes Center in the UK said they have pinpointed a gene in the model plant Arabidopsis that is responsible for controlling overall seed size. The scientists believe that manipulating this gene could lead to ways of improving crops.

Michael Lenhard and colleagues found that cytochrome P450 KLUH (KLU) gene regulates seed size. The gene, expressed in the inner integument of developing ovules, produces an as yet unidentified mobile growth signal that determines final seed size. If the gene is turned off, smaller seeds are produced. Over-expression of KLU, on the other hand, results to larger seeds with higher oil content. According to the researchers this is the first time such a reciprocal effect on seed size has been observed, and points to the fundamental importance of this gene in plant development. They are now studying the effects of modifying this gene in oilseed rape.

The paper published by PNAS is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0907024106 For more information, read http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/media-and-public/current-releases/091105MichaelLenhardseedsize.htm

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will be holding a stakeholder meeting to discuss its current biotechnology regulatory activities on Nov. 17, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Riverdale, Maryland.

"We work hard to ensure that our stakeholders are regularly updated on our Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) program's activities and have the opportunity to provide us with their input and feedback," said APHIS Administrator Cindy Smith. "This meeting allows stakeholders to not only hear first hand from our BRS staff about a wide variety of issues, improvements and initiatives taking place across the program, but to also provide us with their feedback as we implement those activities."

Visit http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/content/2009/11/biotecmeet.shtml for more information.

On 14^th Oct 2009, India's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) in its 97^th meeting recommended the commercial approval of Bt Brinjal Event EE-I in India which at present is under consideration for commercial release by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), Government of India. Bt Brinjal hybrids and open pollinated varieties are developed locally by Mahyco in collaboration with the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore. Brinjal or eggplant is an important vegetable crop in India. It is planted to 550,000 hectares in the country. Brinjal cultivation, however, is often input intensive, especially for insecticide applications. It is prone to attack from insect pests and diseases, the most serious of which is the fruit and shoot borer (FSB). FSB-resistant brinjal varieties expressing Bt proteins have been developed. Results of studies submitted to regulatory authorities in India confirm that Bt brinjal offers the opportunity to provide effective control against fruit and shoot borer, and decrease insecticide input by as much as 80%.

To know more about Bt brinjal in India, the revised Pocket K No. 35 on "Bt Brinjal in India" produced by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications can be downloadable from http://www.isaaa.org/kc/inforesources/publications/pocketk/default.html#Pocket_K_No._35.htm It is also available online in 8 major Indian languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Oriyaa, Tamil, and Telugu.

More information about biotech developments in India contact b.choudhary@cgiar.org and k.gaur@cgiar.org