Biotech Updates

Scientists have successfully engineered a rice plant with an adjustable immune system to make it resistant to multiple diseases at once without decreasing its yield.

Japan, A Potential Biotech Sugar Beet Country

Japan has the potential to adopt biotech crops in the future with the increasing importation of biotech maize, soybean, canola, and cotton, which in 2016 was recorded at 20.9 million metric tons. About 90% of these crops were genetically modified (GM). The country leads globally in biotech crop approvals, however, no biotech crop was ever planted. This was put forward by Dr. Fusao Tomita, director of Nippon Biotechnology Information Center (NBIC) during the seminar launch of ISAAA Brief 52, Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Tomita opined that Hokkaido farmers are interested in planting biotech sugar beet and consumers should be educated on substantial equivalence of sugar derived from biotech and non-biotech sugar beet.

CAAS Scientists Develop Herbicide Resistant Cotton with Low Glyphosate Residues

Glyphosate resistant crops have been widely adopted by North and South American farmers. However, the adoption of glyphosate resistant crops in China has been hampered by several factors, including labor markets and the residual effects of glyphosate in transgenic plants.

Simultaneous Targeting of Multiple Gene Homeologs to Alter Oil Production in Camelina

Camelina sativa can easily be genetically modified using enzymes from other plants, making it an ideal platform for the production of unusual valuable lipids. However, suppression of endogenous enzyme activity to reduce competition for substrates, such as triacylglycerol, is also required to enhance the production of target compounds. Furthermore, camelina possesses a hexaploid genome, with multiple gene homeologs coding for an enzyme.