News & Events
As heat (H) and drought stresses occur concurrently under field conditions, studying them separately offers limited opportunities for wheat improvement. Here, a wheat diversity panel containing Aegilops tauschii introgressions was evaluated under H and combined heat–drought (HD) stresses to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with resilience to the stresses, and to assess the practicability of harnessing Ae. tauschii diversity for breeding for combined stress resilience. Using genome-wide analysis, we identified alleles and QTLs on chromosomes 3D, 5D, and 7A controlling grain yield (GY), kernel number per spike, and thousand-kernel weight, and on 3D (521–549 Mbp) controlling GY alone.
To understand what people of different ages and sexes eat and drink in countries around the world, you can visit the FAO/WHO Global Individual Food consumption data tool. This platform presents food consumption data, at the individual level, from different regions of the world. Collected through both large nationwide surveys and small-scale surveys, the data provides important food-based indicators for food consumption, nutrition and food safety.
Do you see the world in numbers? Do you study charts like an art lover studies Renoir? Do you love statistics in all its forms? Well, FAO does too! When it comes to food and agriculture data, FAO is one of the world leaders in knowledge. Subject experts and in-house statisticians work day in and day out to collect, validate and disseminate data and information on food and agriculture, from hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty to food systems and the sustainable use of natural resources.
Stripe rust, or yellow rust (YR), is a major fungal disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum) caused by Puccinia striiformis Westend f. sp. tritici (Pst). Since 2011, the historically clonal European Pst races have been superseded by the rapid incursion of genetically diverse lineages, reducing the resistance of varieties previously showing durable resistance. Identification of sources of genetic resistance to such races is a high priority for wheat breeding. Here we use a wheat eight-founder multi-parent population genotyped with a 90,000 feature single nucleotide polymorphism array to genetically map YR resistance to such new Pst races.
Investing in clean, affordable and sustainable energy solutions plays a crucial role in ending poverty and hunger. It can also spur innovation, generate millions of green jobs and help create a just, equitable, net-zero emissions future that leaves no one behind. For the 759 million people in the world who lack access to electricity and the 2.6 billion without clean cooking facilities, access to clean energy solutions can also improve vital services such as healthcare and education.
Lettuce is a famous vegetable worldwide, usually used in vegetable salads and burgers. It naturally contains vitamin C, beta-carotene (vitamin A precursor), and vitamin B, but only in limited amounts. Thus, Livneh targets the genes in native lettuce that control the production and accumulation of nutrients. The genetic changes are expected to be very subtle and could spontaneously happen in nature or when using conventional breeding techniques.
The style length (SYL) in rice is one of the major factors influencing the stigma exertion, which affects the outcross rate of male sterile line and the yield of hybrid F1 seeds. However, the biological mechanisms underlying SYL elongation remain elusive. Here, we report a map-based cloning and characterisation of the allele qSYL3-k. The qSYL3-k allele encodes a MADS-box family transcription factor, and it is expressed in various rice organs.
Transgenic tomatoes developed by researchers in Egypt were found to combat drought thanks to a transcription factor involved in the expression of drought responsive genes. The findings can help improve tomato production in the future, as the crop's productivity is highly restricted by drought stress. The OsDREB2A gene was introduced to two tomato genotypes through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, specifically by incubating cotyledon leaf explants in Agrobacterium suspension. After eight weeks, the transgenic tomatoes were regenerated.
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, US, successfully designed a new packaging material that is biodegradable, sustainable, and kills harmful microbes. Their study is published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces journal. The packaging material was developed through electrospinning of zein from corn, together with antimicrobial compounds, cellulose, and acetic acid. Thus, the material is considered biodegradable and can potentially help cut down the amount of plastic waste.
Breeding woody plants is a very time-consuming process, and genetic engineering tools have been used to shorten the juvenile phase. In addition, transgenic trees for commercial cultivation can also be used in classical breeding, but the segregation of transgenes in the progeny of perennial plants, as well as the possible appearance of unintended changes, have been poorly investigated.
A paper published in GM Crops & Food assessed how GM seed production and organic farming have coexisted in Chile in the current unregulated climate. The paper also provides insights into the development of future evidence-based policies. In Chile, several requirements need to be met regarding Law 20.089 in order to be certified as an organic product. Under Chilean organic certification standards, organic production must be isolated from the production of any non-organic (GMOs, conventional) products.
In the present study, encoding sequences of AtPDI1 of wild-type (WT) and double-cysteine-mutants were transformed into an AtPDI1 knockdown Arabidopsis line (pdi), and homozygous transgenic plants named pdi-AtPDI1, pdi-AtPDI1m1 and pdi-AtPDI1m2 were obtained. Compared with the WT and pdi-AtPDI1, the respective germination ratios of pdi-AtPDI1m1 and pdi-AtPDI1m2 were significantly lower under abiotic stresses and exogenous ABA treatment,