A weekly summary of the world developments in agri-biotech, produced by the ISAAA Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology.
Crop Biotech Update
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December 9, 2020
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Two Studies Reveal Retron's Function and its Genome-editing Potential
Two independent studies reveal that retrons, similar to CRISPR, are part of the bacterial immune arsenal, protecting the bacteria from viruses called phages.

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COVID-19 Test Uses CRISPR and Smartphone Camera
A team of scientists at Gladstone Institutes, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has developed the technology for a CRISPR-based test for COVID-19 that uses a smartphone camera to provide accurate results in under 30 minutes. The Gladstone team led by Dr. Melanie Ott and Parinaz Fozouni worked with UC Berkeley bioengineer Dr. Daniel Fletcher and Dr. Jennifer Doudna, senior investigator at Gladstone, professor at UC Berkeley, president of the Innovative Genomics Institute, and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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Research Team Discovers Strategy to Make Plants More Salt Tolerant
A research team from the Centre for Research in Agricultural Economics (CRAG) has found that plants are more tolerant to soil salinity by regulating the TEMPRANILLO (TEM) genes. These findings open up new possibilities in the development of plant varieties that are better adapted to climate change.

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ISAAA Webinar: Global Status of Biotech Crops and the Philippine Adoption Experience
The Philippines is the first country to plant a biotech crop in Southeast Asia and has become a model for science-based biosafety regulation in the region. In 2019, Filipino farmers boosted the area planted to biotech maize. Global biotech crop adoption in 2019 and the Philippine experience on biotech crops will be presented through a webinar on December 14, 2020, at 10 AM (GMT+8) via Zoom.

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Gene Drive Supplement
A biweekly update on gene editing research, regulations, and impact
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GM APPROVAL UPDATES
  • The Philippines approved the canola event LBFLFK for food, feed, and processing.
  • The Philippines approved the cotton event GFM cry1A for commercial cultivation.
  • Brazil approved the wheat event HB4 for commercial cultivation.
  • The Philippines approved the soybean event GMB 151 for food, feed, and processing.
  • The Philippines approved the eggplant event EE-1 for cultivation
  • The USA approved the canola event MON94100  for food and feed.

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Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.

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