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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February 26, 2020
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Uganda's Ministry of Health Officials Urge Government to Pass Biosafety Law
Representatives from the Ministry of Health, Uganda Medical Association, the National Drug Authority, and Uganda Pharmaceutical Society resolved that the government should pass a biosafety law to regulate genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The health officials were impressed by the biotech research and development especially technologies with health benefits such as micronutrient biofortified crops. This was during a sensitization workshop organized by Uganda Biosciences Information Center (UBIC) to discuss the relevance of agricultural biotechnology in medicine and industry.

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Svalbard Global Seed Vault Receives Big Seed Deposit from 35 Genebanks
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway has received seed deposits from 35 genebanks from all continents at a deposit event hosted by Norwegian Prime Minister and co-chair of the UN group of SDG Advocates, Erna Solberg on February 25, 2020. The seeds came from 35 international and regional genebanks, as well as national institutions and civil society organizations. This brings the total number of seed samples stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to more than one million, and the total number of depositors to 85.

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Biologists Develop Defense to Fight Crop Infections
A research team at the University of Toronto in Canada has successfully tested a new strategy to identify genetic resources in the ongoing battle against plant pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, which infect and destroy food crops worldwide. The team led by David Guttman and Darrell Desveaux wanted to know how plants defend themselves against rapidly evolving disease-causing pathogens, why disease is so uncommon even while plants are under continual attack by these highly diverse pathogens, and why domesticated crop species are so much more susceptible to pathogen attacks than wild species.

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Inheritance Patterns of Transgenes in a Series of CRISPR-Cas9 Soybean Lines
University of Minnesota scientists investigated the inheritance patterns of three different CRISPR-Cas9 transgenes and their respective induced mutations in segregating soybean families and found that segregation patterns can be affected by several potential mechanisms. The findings are published in BMC Biotechnology.

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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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