News & Events
A hospital in Israel started the trials for super quick saliva tests for COVID-19 which gives results in less than a second. This new method, once approved for commercial use, could be a game-changer in the COVID-19 testing. The trials, led by Eli Schwartz of the Center of Geographic Medicine and Tropical Diseases at Sheba Medical Center, only requires the patient to rinse his mouth with a saline wash and spit into a vial.
Self-compatible (SC) diploid potatoes allow innovative potato breeding. Therefore, the Sli gene, originally described in S. chacoense, has received much attention. In elite S. tuberosum diploids, spontaneous berry set is occasionally observed. We aimed to map SC from S. tuberosum origin. Two full-sib mapping populations from non-inbred diploids were used. Bulks were composed based on both pollen tube growth and berry set upon selfing.
A new study conducted by researchers at MassBiologics of UMass Medical School reveals that COVID specific IgA monoclonal antibodies may provide effective immunity in the respiratory system against the novel coronavirus. Sixteen years ago, MassBiologics developed an IgG monoclonal antibody that was effective against the first SARS virus that caused alarming illness. But then it disappeared, and MassBiologics, which was ready at the time to initiate a clinical trial, saved the research materials associated with that work.
Filipino technical experts from various government regulatory agencies have come together for the first-ever Virtual Training-Workshop on Biotech Animals for Philippine Regulators, hosted via Zoom by ISAAA SEAsiaCenter in collaboration with the DOST-National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines (DOST-NCBP), the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Heritable epigenetic variation can contribute to agronomic traits in crops and should be considered in germplasm conservation. Despite the genetic uniformity arising from a genetic bottleneck of one ancestral clone, followed by subsequent vegetative propagation, East African Highland bananas (EAHBs) display significant phenotypic diversity potentially arising from somatic mutations, heritable epialleles and/or genotype-by-environment interactions.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers evaluated the potential benefit of the weak functional version of Semi Dwarf 1 (SD1) gene from japonica rice on yield improvement in the indica rice background. The findings are reported in Molecular Breeding. In the 1960s, the Green Revolution introduced semi-dwarf rice cultivars that had decreased lodging and improved harvest indexes, wherein SD1 was the gene involved in improving the rice yield.
Scientists at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) have found that a mutation in SARS-CoV-2 called ∆382 leads to milder clinical outcomes, with implications for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. There have been many variants identified in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Such genetic variations can translate to different features that affect the virus in different ways. The A*STAR group focused their research on the particular variant detected through routine sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genome in a cluster of cases in Singapore that occurred between January and February of this year.
The transcriptome connects genome to the gene function and ultimate phenome in biology. So far, transcriptomic approach was not used in peanut for performing trait mapping in bi-parental populations. In this research, we sequenced the whole transcriptome in immature seeds in a peanut recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and explored thoroughly the landscape of transcriptomic variations and its genetic basis.
In May of this year, the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN) released its first assessment of CGIAR. CGIAR’s formal response, published today, highlights significant progress made to date and future improvements planned, using the assessment as guidance for ensuring that One CGIAR can deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
For those seeking to create a win-win for farmers, marketers and consumers of grain legumes and dryland cereals, this handy 15-pager has valuable information. Covering a five-year period starting 2020, this booklet aims to guide policy makers, development partners, implementing agencies, extension staff and stakeholders across the Grain Legume and Dryland Cereals seed value chain. The primary goal of this strategy is to deliver realized genetic gains to millions of smallholders in the drylands who continue to use poor quality seed of non-improved varieties with lower productivity.
Because of the frequent breakdown of major resistance (R) genes, identification of new partial R genes against rice blast disease is an important goal of rice breeding. In this study, we used a core collection of the Rice Diversity Panel II (C-RDP-II), which contains 584 rice accessions and are genotyped with 700 000 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. The C-RDP-II accessions were inoculated with three blast strains collected from different rice-growing regions in China.
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) will collaborate to finalize the development of Aflasafe—a safe and effective natural product for the integrated management of aflatoxin in the maize, sorghum, and groundnut value chains in Uganda. This is through a four-year project, funded by aBi Development Ltd. (aBi), launched on 12 August 2020. It seeks to reduce aflatoxin contamination in staple crops in Uganda to ensure the country has safe and nutritious food that also meet standards for export markets.