Crop Biotech Update

July 12, 2017

QUT Scientists Develop Golden Bananas to Fight Vitamin A Deficiency in Africa

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers developed genetically engineered bananas enriched with vitamin A to save thousands of lives in Africa who are at risk of having vitamin A deficiency.

Bangladesh Ag Leaders Keen to Adopt Biotech Cotton

Bangladesh, the first country to plant biotech eggplant, is ready to adopt biotech cotton. This was expressed by the research and development leaders of the country during the seminar launch of ISAAA's Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops for 2016, held on July 9, 2017 at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in Dhaka.

Uganda Gov't Upbeat on Passing GM Crops Legislation

"Together with conducive and harmonized regulations, crop biotechnology innovations can help increase food production to address the needs of the growing global population, especially those in the developing countries like Uganda," said the Minister of State for Agriculture�Hon. Christopher Kibazanga. This was at the launch of the 2016 Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops report on July 6, 2017 at Hotel Africana, in Kampala Uganda.

Development of Powdery Mildew Resistant Tomato via CRISPR-Cas9

In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), there are sixteen Mlo genes, with SlMlo1 being the major contributor to the susceptibility to the powdery mildew caused by Oidium neolycopersici. Natural loss-of-function slmlo1 mutants are available in tomato, however, introgression of such mutations is a lengthy process. The team of Vladimir Nekrasov from the Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park in the UK aimed to generate a transgene-free genetically edited slmlo1 tomato using the CRISPR-Cas9 system.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

PLANT BREEDING INNOVATIONS

GM APPROVAL UPDATES

Russia approved corn TC1507 for food, feed, and processing.
Russia approved corn MZHG0JG for food, feed, and processing.
Russia approved corn DAS40278 for food, feed, and processing.
South Korea approved canola MS11 for food use.
The Philippines approved corn Bt11 x MIR162 x MON89034 x GA21 for food, feed, and processing.
The Philippines approved potato Y9 for food, feed, and processing.

Visit GM APPROVAL DATABASE

The Crop Biotech Update is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a non-for-profit organization. The CBU is distributed for free to over 23,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in agricultural 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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