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BIOFORTIFYING
CEREALS AND GRAINS
(SRC:Washington University in St. Louis -- ATH:n/a
Researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
in the U.S. have developed genetically modified (GM)
Arabidopsis thaliana plants with heightened levels of
folate, a vitamin essential to human and animal health.
After studying the biochemical pathway that produces
folate in Arabidopsis plants, the Danforth Center
researchers postulated that increased levels of GTP
cyclohydrolase-1, a critical enzyme in the pathway,
would result in higher levels of folate. Working from
this assumption, they replaced the Arabidopsis gene that
codes for GTP cyclohydrolase-1 with an E. coli gene that
is regulated to produce higher levels of a different
form of the same enzyme. Folate levels in the leaves of
resulting Arabidopsis plants were significantly higher
than normal, exceeding levels typically found in
spinach,
a plant known to be rich in folates. High
folate levels are found in a number of foods, including
green leafy vegetables, legumes, and certain fruits.
However, in
countries where diets are largely limited to
cereal grains or a few other staples, folate deficiency
is a leading cause of neural tube defects in newborns
and cancer and cardiovascular disease in
adults. Commenting on the development of the GM
Arabidopsis plants, Roger Beachy, president of the
Danforth Center, said that discovering how to enhance
folate levels was "a significant step in realizing the
potential of biofortification . . . to meet the demands
for improved human and livestock nutrition." Danforth
Center researchers plan to continue their research in
this area through exploring ways to enhance folate
production in important staple crops, including cereal
and tuber crops. Founded in 1998, the St. Louis-based
Danforth Center is a non-profit research center with "a
global vision to improve the human condition." The
research results were published in the April 6, 2004
issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. The article can be viewed online at the link
below.
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&doc_id=8341&start=1&control=201&page_start=1&page_nr=101&pg=1
China Likely To Approve Biotech Rice
(SRC:Wisconsin AgConnection -- ATH:n/a)
Scott Rozelle, an agricultural economist at the
University of California, Davis, and an expert on
China's agricultural sector, said recently that he
expects China to
approve the cultivation of genetically
modified (GM) insect-resistant rice within the next one
or two years. "We're fairly confident [of that]," he
said. Rozelle was
speaking at a presentation of the
Institute for International Economics (IIE), based in
Washington, D.C. He recently coauthored a book published
by IIE, entitled "Roots of Competitiveness: China's
Evolving Agriculture Interests." Rozelle said that
Chinese approval of GM rice could set off a global rush
for GM crops, including GM wheat. So far, neither GM
wheat nor GM rice have been cultivated commercially
anywhere in the world. The article can be viewed online
at the link below.
http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&doc_id=8347&start=1&control=
Turning Genetically Engineered Trees into Toxic Avengers
(SRC:New York Times -- ATH:Hilary Rosner)
This article says that researchers in laboratories
around the U.S. are working to modify the genomes of
forest trees, hoping to readjust their reproductive
cycles,
growth rates and chemical makeup, and to change
their ability to store carbon, resist disease, and
absorb toxins. Much of the research relies on the study
of basic tree genetics, which will soon be made easier
by the sequencing of the poplar tree genome, a major
effort whose results are to be made public this month.
Discussing the possibilities of tree biotechnology, Ron
Sederoff, a professor of forestry at North Carolina
State University, says, "It is possible that we could
engineer trees that are so much better for specific
purposes that you wouldn't want to cut down a natural
tree." One goal is the creation of trees that produce
less lignin, a substance that makes wood fibers stiff.
Trees with less lignin could be turned into paper and
lumber using fewer chemicals. Researchers have also
discovered a link between low lignin and faster growth,
which could make genetically modified (GM) trees
desirable for plantation foresters. However,
development of such trees is controversial.
Environmentalists and others say that because of the
large distances that tree pollen can travel, GM genes
will migrate to natural populations, leading to damage
to ecosystems and other unforeseen consequences.
Commenting on the issue, Yan Linhart, a University of
Colorado biologist who studies the ecology and evolution
of
forest trees, says: "One always needs to put into the
equation biological caution and common sense. It's a
case-by-case basis. One has to not make sweeping
judgments that say this particular type of activity is
all good or all bad." Tree geneticists are "acutely
aware," according to the article, that public acceptance
will
depend at least partly on whether GM trees can be
made sterile or their reproductive capacity tightly
controlled. Research in this area is already underway
at several institutions, including the Tree Biosafety
and Genomics Research Cooperative at Oregon State
University.
ARS SCIENTISTS STUDY
GENES FOR FERTILIZATION
Research work is being done to enable scientists to
alter the activity of genes that block fertilization of
certain wild species with their domesticated
counterparts.
Scientists led by Shiela McCormick of the
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at the US Department
of Agriculture are studying the genes and proteins that
may
be key players in fertilization. According to Marcia
Wood of ARS, until such barriers are overcome, the
prized genes that the wild relatives harbor cannot, in
many
cases, be easily moved into cultivated species.
Wood explained that genes cue plants to form proteins
called ligands and partner molecules called receptor
kinases,
which might be essential to fertilization.
McCormick and colleagues used tomato pollen kinases,
discovered in their earlier experiments, as baits for
floral ligands.
This discovery enabled them to identify
many potential new ligands. For more information about
this research, see the August issue of Agricultural
Research magazine
at
http://www.ars.usda.gov/
is/AR/archive/aug04/puzzle0804.htm.
Biotech Events
September 26
- 30
8th International Symposium on the Biosafety of
Genetically Modified Organisms
Montpellier, France
Contact: Sophie Masliah, Lab. of Plant Cell and Molecular Biology, INRA
Versailles, 78026 Versailles Cedex, France;
Tel: +33 (1)
3083 3730;
Fax: +33 (1) 3087 3728;
Email:
isbgmo@versailles.inra.fr;
URL:
http://www.inra.fr/gmobiosafety/index.php
December 14-16, 2004
(SRC:ESCWA Website -- ATH:n/a)
An expert group meeting on "Modern Biotechnology; Technical
and policy implications in the Near East and North
Africa Region" will take place December 14-16 in Beirut,
Lebanon. The meeting, which is being jointly organized
by the UN Economic & Social Commission for Western Asia
(ESCWA) and the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization
(FAO), will provide regional policy and decision-makers
with information about the current state of knowledge on
biotechnology and genetic engineering (BTGE)
applications, their challenges and opportunities, and
the status of the region's institutional and enabling
frameworks. Its main focus will be on "developing
strategies for policies and interventions related to the
implications of BTGE for socioeconomic development and
its impact on employment creation and
poverty reduction
in the largely agrarian-based economies of the countries
of the region." According to the event website: "Many
of the promises and challenges posed by BTGE
developments bear special significance for the Arab
countries. Nevertheless, participation by the region's
science and technology institutions, and its
agricultural
sector, in the ongoing global debate concerning possible
benefits and disadvantages of the widespread use of
BTGE, including genetically modified crops, has been
limited." More
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