News & Events
One of the major objectives in rice breeding aims to increase simultaneously yield and grain quality especially eating and cooking quality (ECQ). Controlling amylose content (AC) and amylopectin chain-length distribution (ACLD) in rice is a major strategy for improving rice ECQ. Previous studies show that some starch synthesis-related genes (SSRGs) are required for normal AC and ACLD, but its underlying regulating network is still unclear.
Members of the French Plant Biotechnology Association (AFBV) call for a general mobilization of public and private research across Europe to ensure plant variety adaptation to climate change. The AFBV considers using new plant biotechnologies, including genome editing, as necessary for the success of this adaptation plan not only to ensure food security but also to address the impacts of climate change.
Oklahoma State University scientist and assistant professor Feng Feng is studying how beneficial microorganisms are helping plants acquire nutrients. Microbes infect plant roots to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the plant called symbiosis, a relationship that provides plants with essential nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Like people, plants are naturally exposed to a wide variety of microorganisms. Some of these microorganisms are good, some are bad, and they have an immune system that triggers defense responses to limit infection.
In human genetics, several studies have shown that phenotypic variation is more likely to be caused by structural variants (SV) than by single nucleotide variants. However, accurate while cost-efficient discovery of SV in complex genomes remains challenging. The objectives of our study were to (i) facilitate SV discovery studies by benchmarking SV callers and their combinations with respect to their sensitivity and precision to detect SV in the barley genome,
ISAAA Inc., in partnership with SEARCA Biotechnology Information Center and the Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries Biotechnology Program (DA-Biotech Program), conducted the webinar Current Status of Commercialized GM Crops in the Philippines: Biotech Corn and Golden Rice as part of the Know the Science Webinar Series. It was attended by 798 participants on Zoom and various social media platforms on October 11, 2022, and was designed for media practitioners to get information for their news articles and orient the general public on the latest updates about the topic.
The 2022 Biotech Outreach Webinar Series for Vietnam concluded with the final webinar held on October 13, 2022 via Zoom. The webinar on Raising Public Awareness on Agricultural Biotechnology was organized by the United States Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) Hanoi and ISAAA Inc., in collaboration with the Agricultural Genetics Institute (AGI) of Vietnam. It aimed to promote communication on innovative technologies that improve productivity and climate resiliency to the general public,
Morphological markers at seedling stage are useful indicators for F1 hybrid seeds screening. Pepper is a worldwide vegetable with diverse uses, and F1 hybrids are popular in the pepper industry. Hypocotyl color is a useful marker to identify F1 hybrid seeds. However, most pepper accessions have purple hypocotyl caused by anthocyanin accumulation, while green hypocotyl pepper accessions are rare
The workshop aims to prepare participants for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties or COP-15 and 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety or COP-MOP 10) to be held in Montreal, Canada in December 2022.
The Kenyan media have been challenged to actively play a key role in combating misinformation and propaganda about modern biotechnology. This was a clarion call made during this year's OFAB-Kenya Media Awards gala held in Nairobi to celebrate excellence in science journalism and recognize media's contribution in promoting agricultural biotechnology.
The high oleic trait in peanut is conditioned by loss-of-function mutations in a pair of homeologous enzymes and is well known to improve the shelf life of peanut products. As such, the trait is given high priority in current and future cultivars by the North Carolina State University peanut breeding program. For unknown reasons, high oleic cultivars and breeding lines intermittently failed to meet self-imposed thresholds for oleic acid content in internal testing.
Australia's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has issued license DIR 190 to BASF Australia Ltd., authorizing the commercial release of Indian mustard genetically modified (GM) for herbicide tolerance. The release is authorized to take place throughout Australia. The GM Indian mustard and products derived from it may enter general commerce, including use in human food and animal feed.
The potential of agribiotechnology to contribute to sustainable agriculture depends on R&D as well as on the integration of other factors such as effective communication, science-based national regulatory frameworks, and an adequate understanding of international legal instruments. Strong collaboration among scientists, regulators, policy makers, and lawyers is important so that science and regulation can co-evolve and society can benefit from modern biotechnology while risks are minimized.