News & Events
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences reported a new strategy for production of astaxanthin in maize. Their findings are published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal. Astaxanthin, commonly produced by marine microalgae, is economically important in food and feed due to its strong antioxidant activity and color. The research team selected maize as a platform to produce astaxanthin by enhancing how carotene is produced in maize plants.
High temperatures causing heat stress disturb cellular homeostasis and impede growth and development in plants. Extensive agricultural losses are attributed to heat stress, often in combination with other stresses. Plants have evolved a variety of responses to heat stress to minimize damage and to protect themselves from further stress. A narrow temperature window separates growth from heat stress, and the range of temperatures conferring optimal growth often overlap with those producing heat stress.
Chinese researchers found that increasing the information in labels of genetically modified foods can increase the consumers' willingness to buy them as they will be more informed about the benefits attributed to the GMFs.The study was conducted to match the consumers' different information processing mechanisms by adding marketing information clues and regulating their purchase intentions by contradictory attitudes towards GMFs.
An international team of researchers led by the University of New Hampshire (UNH) has sequenced the genome of the shea tree, providing a valuable resource for the strategic development of the species and contributing to its preservation.The tree is known for the popular product shea butter, a multimillion-dollar ingredient used in cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and chocolate. For hundreds of thousands of African families living in the "shea belt" it is also a crucial source of nutrition and income.
Low grain moisture at harvest is crucial for safe production, transport and storage, but the genetic architecture of this trait in maize (Zea mays) remains elusive. Here, we measured the dynamic changes in grain moisture content in an association-mapping panel of 513 diverse maize inbred lines at five successive stages across five geographical environments. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) revealed 71 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that influence grain moisture in maize.
A woman's shift to a plant-based diet and her discovery that she was lactose intolerant have now produced a cheese using plant-based casein from genetically engineered soybeans. Casein is the protein found in cow's milk that gives cheese all of its functionality—including its incredible stretch, melt, and mouthfeel. Former Shell engineer Magi Richani, the head of Nobell Foods said, "We discovered a way to basically turn plants into little factories for making casein, so you don't have to get it from a cow.
Dr. Nonawin Lucob-Agustin of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), together with researchers from Nagoya University in Japan has discovered a mutation gene that may help rice plants survive despite adverse conditions such as drought.The team of researchers discovered the wavy root elongation growth 1 (weg1) gene, which may help rice cope with drought especially in rainfed lowlands where water is scarce.
Breeding crop cultivars with optimal value across multiple traits has been a challenge, as traits may negatively correlate due to pleiotropy or genetic linkage. For example, grain yield and grain protein content correlate negatively with each other in cereal crops. Future crop breeding needs to be based on practical yet accurate evaluation and effective selection of beneficial trait to retain genes with the best agronomic score for multiple traits.
Researchers at MIT's McGovern Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have exposed a class of programmable DNA editing systems called OMEGAs (Obligate Mobile Element Guided Activity), which may play a role in shuffling small pieces of DNA throughout bacterial genomes. The details of their discovery are published in Science. Programmable enzymes, particularly those that use a RNA guide, can easily be adapted for various purposes
Biotech stakeholders in Nigeria have challenged local experts to forge stronger ties and collaborations in accelerating genome-editing research whose results carry enormous prospects to solve regional problems. In a joint communique, the stakeholders affirmed the benefits of genome editing in transforming health, enhancing the environment, and improving food security and nutrition in Nigeria and the region.
Blast is caused by the host-specific lineages of the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae and is the most important destructive disease in major crop plants, including rice and wheat. The first wheat blast outbreak that occurred in Bangladesh in 2016 and the recent epidemic in Zambia were caused by the M. oryzae Triticum (MoT) pathotype, a fungal lineage belonging to M. oryzae. Although a few reported wheat cultivars show modest resistance to MoT, the patterns of genetic variation and diversity of this pathotype make it crucial to identify additional lines of resistant wheat germplasm.
Those divisions have been widening of late. But they aren’t nearly as incendiary as social or “affective” polarization, which is about anger, distrust, resentment, tribal identity, and mutual loathing (see Fig. 1). As a team of prominent social scientists warned last year, social polarization in conjunction with legislative gridlock and hyper-partisan media have created an “American sectarianism” that threatens democracy itself.