http://www.isaaa.org/kc/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).en-usFri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6561...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Noticehttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6570The diets and demands for staple foods are expected to alter together with global economic environment changes. This led economist Siwa Msangi and colleagues to assess these changes in relation to the long term impact of biofortification. They used a global agricultural market model to simulate future demands for food and nutrients under various si...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Globalhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6586Egypt Biotechnology Information Center (EBIC) organized a workshop on "Challenges faced by media in dealing with biotechnological issues" at the Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC) in Cairo on August 18. Discussions were held with eminent scientists and heads of ARC institutes and central...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Africahttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6587Fifty scientists, maize breeders, and private company representatives, as well as 100 farmers visited Bt maize fields in Sharkia, Delta, Egypt last August 23, 2010. The event, organized by the Egypt Biotechnology Information Center, aimed to show efforts in controlling maize stemborer, a problem faced by many farmers in the country. Prof. Magdy Mas...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Africahttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6589Widespread adoption of recently developed drought-tolerant varieties of maize could boost harvests in 13 African countries by 10 to 34 percent. This could generate up to US$1.5 billion in benefits for producers and consumers, says a study conducted as part of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Initiative (DTMA). The study is being implemented by...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Africahttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6596Michigan State University biochemists discovered the mechanism how plants protect themselves from freezing temperatures, a breakthrough which could also lead to finding out the plant's behavior during extreme conditions.Using Arabidopsis thaliana, Christoph Benning and his team observed a novel mechanism on how a specific gene controls the formatio...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6584A team of scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS), University of Maryland School of Medicine, has opened research possibilities for the improvement of the castor bean by studying the castor bean genome. The 4.5 X genome coverage of this oilseed crop is published in the journal Nature Biotechn...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6565Monsanto Company announced that the National Technical Biosafety Committee finally approved the planting of Bt Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean in Brazil. This is a significant step in the commercialization of Monsanto's first biotechnology trait developed for non-U.S. market. "This is an important product for Brazilian soybean farmers because it prot...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6568Texas AgriLife Research scientists headed by Dr. Huangjun Lu discovered a wheat streak mosaic virus-resistance gene. They crossed the Colorado wheat line with TAM111 and found that the wheat streak mosaic virus resistance was due to a single dominant gene from the Colorado germplasm line. After conducting molecular mapping they were able to form ma...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6569Scientists have discovered protection for the fungus Beauveria bassiana, a biological agent that could be a substitute for pesticides. Spores of B. bassian were suspended in liquid as insecticide. The destructive insects die when they are exposed to the germinated fungus. However, Rober Behle and colleagues observed that the spores of the fungus ar...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6578The US Courts revoked the approval for commercial cultivation of sugar beets starting 2011. During the hearings, the USDA had admitted mistakes in the approval process but believes that the mistakes were not serious and they are optimistic that a more thorough assessment of possible environmental consequences would eventually result in the approval...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6580A scientific framework for monitoring the release of second-generation genetically modified (GM) crops was designed by a team of scientists from across Canada. Learning from the lessons of releasing first generation GM crops now being discovered in wild canola in Canada and the US, the team developed a post release monitoring protocol for the secon...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6581Seventeen new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants have been given certificates by the US Department of Agriculture. The 17 certificates are for: * the PHB2WPYJI, PHKXUJVKE, PHBNPOQBIE, PHA7NQJKE, PHKLPJKYKE, PHOUTZ, PHBAXY7QIT, PHBR6KFYVI, PHBI35LVQI, PHKRSXF, PHKU3JBKE and PHAXYAQKE varieties of sorghum, developed by Pioneer ...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6582A team of researchers from University of Wisconsin (UW) studying the mechanism of drought resistance in plants have identified the protein targets of the plant hormone abscisic acid. The work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is of utmost importance because of the current need to expand and intensify agricultural prod...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Americashttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6583Chinese scientists have voiced out their opinion on how to produce food for the increasing Chinese population, in response to climate change and to reduce reliance on foreign technologies. GM crops can provide solutions to various problems facing the ecosystem such as limited land and water resources, scientists say. "Making technical preparations ...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6567InterGrain Pty Ltd and Monsanto Company announced a collaboration agreement to advance and strengthen wheat technology in Australia. The two agricultural companies will exchange particular wheat germplasm and breeding tools to develop wheat lines with increased yield performance, disease resistance, and drought tolerance utilizing reduced input res...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6573It is time to remodel the traditional education system and incorporate biotechnology and molecular biology as well as sustainable technologies in the agriculture curriculum. This was the opinion of ministerial and academic experts during the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) last August 18, 2010. Over 4000 j...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6598Thirty three participants composed of regulators from the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional agricultural offices and representatives from the Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) recently gathered in a Biotechnology 101 Training Course on the Basic Biotechnology Tools for Crop/Animal Improvement which was ...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Asia and the Pacifichttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6533Cytokinin is a plant hormone involved in several developmental processes of plants. One of these processes is the root to shoot signaling. If there are low concentrations of cytokinin transported from the roots to the shoots, then there would be an adaptive response on the shoot. However, abscisic acid (ABA) has been widely accepted as an effective...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Researchhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6563Kernel length in rice (Oryza sativa L.) is regulated by different stretches of DNA, wherein the gene GS3 is the most essential because it controls 80-90% of the variation in kernel length. Previous studies have shown that when the exon or the portion of DNA that codes information for protein synthesis of the GS3 is mutated, maximum variations in th...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Researchhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6564Attack by herbivores and pathogens activate the release of plant compounds that exhibit defense responses. Among those compounds are small peptides, which are short polymers of amino acids joined by peptide bonds. However, only a few of these defense peptides have been identified and reported. Thus, Gregory Pearce and colleagues at Washington State...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Researchhttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6574The 4th Indian Horticulture Congress is being organized by the Horticultural Society of India and National Skills Foundation of India at NPL, Pusa Campus, New Delhi from November 18-21st 2010. The four day event aims to provide a unique platform to strategize and explore all growth avenues that exist in the horticulture sector. The Congress will sh...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Announcementshttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6579Chile research and industry concerns from around the world will highlight the list of topics for The 20th International Pepper Conference, hosted by New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute. The event will take place on Sept. 12-14 at Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. The conference will provide opportunities for participants to share up-to-...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Announcementshttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6585National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB) is organizing a winter school on "Molecular techniques in gene identification and characterization" sponsored by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi from November 8 to 28, 2010 for the teachers/research personnel of State Agricultural Universities(SAUs) and ICAR Institute...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Announcementshttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6588The Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries (IPBO) in Ghent, Belgium is organizing a distance learning postgraduate course "Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology" at Ghent University for the 5th consecutive academic year. This international e-learning course is organized in cooperation with UNIDO and aims to train scientists and law s...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Announcementshttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6597A new booklet on Agricultural Biotechnology (A Lot More than Just GM Crops) is now availabe and downloadable at the ISAAA website. The booklet discusses in detail and in simple language agricultural biotechnology as it compares with conventional breeding, the agricultural biotechnology tools used in crops such as tissue culture and micropropagation...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Document Remindershttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6575A six-page report on biotechnology in France published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is available online. The GAIN report notes that restrictive measures on plant biotech dossiers, a national ban on MON810 (Bt maize) cultivation, and the recent destruction of its only biotech open field experiment are signs that France, through the National...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Document Remindershttp://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=6576The European Union's status on Biotechnology: GE Plants and Animals has been released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service. The 33-page report noted that the EU remains a major importer and consumer of biotech products particularly soybean and corn for animal feed and human food. The EU food chain supply may weaken due...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0800Document Reminders