News & Events
Schaftoside and isoschaftoside are bioactive natural products widely distributed in higher plants including cereal crops and medicinal herbs. Their biosynthesis may be related with plant defense. However, little is known on the glycosylation biosynthetic pathway of these flavonoid di-C-glycosides with different sugar residues. Herein, we report that the biosynthesis of (iso)schaftosides is sequentially catalyzed by two C-glycosyltransferases (CGTs), i.e., CGTa for C-glucosylation of the 2-hydroxyflavanone aglycone and CGTb for C-arabinosylation of the mono-C-glucoside.
Surveys on agricultural technology adoption in Nigeria carried out in 2019-2020 revealed gains made in crop yields, gross margins and ROI, as well as challenges in accessing improved seeds. One of the suggestions made on the basis of these results was that ICRISAT develop appropriate policy briefs for use by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD Nigeria) and agricultural sector partners for value chains and markets of millets, sorghum and groundnut.
The world has never watched so closely as scientists work to develop a safe and effective vaccine against Covid-19. While encouraging to see the news about a number of vaccines with high efficacy coming down the pipeline, there are other things that can be done to increase the effectiveness of all vaccines. Nutrition plays a major role in vaccine efficacy. A recent study in PLOS concluded that “monitoring nutrition may be a practical and low-cost way to impact vaccination outcomes
Eukaryotic genomes are pervasively transcribed, yet most transcribed sequences lack conservation or known biological functions. In Arabidopsis thaliana, RNA polymerase V (Pol V) produces noncoding transcripts, which base pair with small interfering RNA (siRNA) and allow specific establishment of RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) on transposable elements. Here, we show that Pol V transcribes much more broadly than previously expected,
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has appointed the popular British gardening expert, writer and broadcaster, Monty Don, as a Goodwill Ambassador to promote the International Year of Plant Health. In addition, FAO has appointed the Irish garden designer, writer, and broadcaster, Diarmuid Gavin, as an official Champion of the cause.
The implications of agri-food systems transformation for the livelihoods of rural people in the COVID-19 era was the focus of a high-level event today, co-organized by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of China and the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations (UN).
Peanut is widely grown and provides protein and edible oil for millions of people. Peanut growth and productivity are frequently negatively affected by abiotic and biotic environmental factors. However, the research on improving peanut germplasm resources by genetic transformation is very limited. Here, the novel R2R3-MYB repressor GmMYB3a was introduced into peanut plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation for the first time for thorough evaluation of the function of GmMYB3a in drought stress plant responses. We generated GmMYB3a-transgenic peanut plants.
An international research team from Cornell University, The University of Western Australia, and The Australian National University have identified the genetic mechanisms behind the production of Victorin, a deadly toxin that causes Victoria blight of oats, a disease that wiped out oat crops in the U.S. in the 1940s. The researchers found that Victorin is encoded by a small gene that exists as multiple copies buried in highly repetitive and rapidly evolving regions of the genome.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) refutes the argument that biofuels are not sustainable because the conversion of non-agricultural land to grow energy crops could lead to a significant initial decrease in carbon storage, creating what is known as a "biofuel carbon debt". The study reveals that the greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) cultivation for cellulosic ethanol production in the U.S. was comparable on a per-hectare basis to that of reforestation and several times greater than that of grassland restoration.
- Dr Hoang Van Tam presented his progress report on “Study on procedure to produce microorganism organic fertilizer from Pangasius fish wash" on Nov 6 2020
- Mr Truong Quoc Anh presented his final report on “To establish the demonstration, which transfer hi-technologies applied in Cavendish banana production in Bàu Bàng, Bình Dương province ”, Nov 25 2020.
Population divergence is suggested to be the primary force driving the evolution of environmental adaptability in various species. Chromosome inversion increases reproductive isolation between subspecies and accelerates population divergence to adapt to new environments. Although modern cultivated Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) has spread worldwide, the noticeable phenotypic differences still existed among cultivars grown in different areas
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General, QU Dongyu, called on G20 members to address the impacts of COVID-19 on agri-food systems by boosting farmers' productivity, scaling up social protection mechanisms, and investing in digital innovation. "It is essential for the G20 to keep working on preventing this health crisis from becoming a global food crisis," said Dongyu.