News & Events
According to the Department's spokesperson, the registered Bt cotton varieties include IUB-13, MNH-886, BS-15, Niab-878, and FH-14. Farmers in specific districts were advised to plant other registered Bt cotton based on the instructions of local agriculture experts. The farmers were reminded to plant non-Bt varieties on 10 percent of their fields as a refuge for pests and prevent the development of resistance against Bt varieties. The spokesperson also discouraged the planting of unregistered varieties, which can reduce production.
An international team led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing discovered that whiteflies use a plant gene to defend themselves against plant toxins. The researchers used a combination of genetic and phylogenetic analyses to identify the plant defense gene, BtPMAT1, found on whiteflies. It is the same gene naturally derived from most plants to protect themselves from pests
This study sequenced, de novo assembled, analyzed, and annotated the genome of the monoembryonic mango cultivar ‘Tommy Atkins’. The draft genome sequence was generated using NRGene de-novo Magic on high molecular weight DNA of ‘Tommy Atkins’, supplemented by 10X Genomics long read sequencing to improve the initial assembly. A hybrid population between ‘Tommy Atkins’ x ‘Kensington Pride’ was used to generate phased haplotype chromosomes and a highly resolved phased SNP map. The final ‘Tommy Atkins’ genome assembly was a consensus sequence that included 20 pseudomolecules representing the 20 chromosomes of mango and included ~ 86% of the ~ 439 Mb haploid mango genome.
A study conducted by researchers from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India has looked into the possibility of boosting the nutrient content of the popular legume chickpea by crossing it with its hardy and weedy wild relatives. The researchers from ICRISAT and the Crop Trust's Crop Wild Relatives Project (CWR Project) studied the seed protein and mineral concentrations in wild chickpeas that belong to the genus Cicer.
An inter-organizational team of experts released their review of the key challenges faced by Africa countries in the development of genetically modified (GM) crops. The review also documented the lessons learned as well as the best practices of individual African countries that have successfully commercialized GM crops. In the review, the authors highlighted that there is a need for close collaboration of and the interplay between the biosafety competent authorities and the variety release authors.
Stigma exsertion rate (SER) is an important trait affecting the outcrossing ability of male sterility lines in hybrid rice. This complex trait was controlled by multiple QTLs and affected by environment condition. Here, we dissected, respectively, two pairs of tightly linked QTLs for SER on chromosomes 2 and 3 by substitution mapping. On chromosome 2, two linkage QTLs, qSER-2a and qSER-2b, were located in the region of 1288.0 kb, and were, respectively, delimited to the intervals of 234.9 kb and 214.3 kb. On chromosome 3, two QTLs, qSER-3a and qSER-3b, were detected in the region of 3575.5 kb and were narrowed down to 319.1 kb and 637.3 kb, respectively.
Medicago, the Quebec City-based biopharmaceutical company, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have announced the start of Phase 3 clinical testing of Medicago's plant-derived COVID-19 vaccine candidate in combination with GSK's pandemic adjuvant, as part of the ongoing Phase 2/3 study. Medicago received approval from Canadian and US regulatory authorities to proceed with the enrollment of healthy adults in the Phase 3 portion of the trial based on positive interim Phase 2 results.
Newly elected leaders from Wakiso district in central Uganda pledged support for genetically modified (GM) crops during a sensitization workshop on on-going biotech research at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) on March 25, 2021. The 10 leaders including district and division councilors were led by the Woman MP-elect Wakiso District, Hon. Ethel Betty Naluyima.
Solanum lycopersicoides is a wild relative of tomato with a natural adaptation to a wide array of biotic and abiotic challenges. In this study, we identified and characterized diploid plants segregating from the progenies of monosomic alien addition lines (MAALs) of S. lycopersicoides to establish their potential as donors in breeding for target trait improvement in tomato.
The scientists screened nine Cas12a orthologs that have not been used in plants before. They identified six variants that possessed high editing activity in rice. Among the six variants, Mb2Cas12a has the most efficient editing capability and tolerance to low temperature. The new variant enables editing with more relaxed PAM requirements in rice and produced twice genome coverage compared to SpCas9. The multiplexed system has the ability to target as many as 16 sites in the genome of rice to enhance its yield and disease resistance.
ISAAA SEAsiaCenter and Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology Director, Dr. Rhodora Romero-Aldemita, will share about the global adoption of biotech crops in 2019. Dr. Tran Xuan Dinh, General Secretary of Vietnam Seed Trade Association, and Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dinh, Vice Chairman of Vietnams Farmers' Union, will share Vietnam's experiences and perspectives on agri-biotech.
Polyploidy is a prominent feature for genome evolution in many animals and all flowering plants. Plant polyploids often show enhanced fitness in diverse and extreme environments, but the molecular basis for this remains elusive. Soil salinity presents challenges for many plants including agricultural crops. Here we report that salt tolerance is enhanced in tetraploid rice through lower sodium uptake and correlates with epigenetic regulation of jasmonic acid (JA)–related genes.