NIHERST: Science and Technology

Cassava is a staple food for millions of poverty stricken people in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and parts of Asia. Cassava roots, similar to potatoes, are often eaten boiled or deep-fried. The root is rich in carbohydrates and starch, but low in protein and vitamins. Now, an international team of scientists has determined a way to fortify cassava with enough proteins, vitamins and minerals to provide the poor and malnourished with a day's worth of nutrition in a single meal. The researchers have also developed virus-resistant lines and varieties that produce less cyanogens, compounds that can trigger the production of cyanide.

The scientists introduced genes that encode metal transport proteins to produce cassava that accumulates more iron and zinc. Genes that are involved in carotenoid and terpenoids production were also inserted to fortify the plant with vitamins A and E. The next step, according to researchers, will be to combine the bio-engineered traits into a single, farmer-preferred cultivar.

Field trials have already started in Puerto Rico, and the research team hopes to start field tests in Nigeria and Kenya by 2010.

Read the full article at http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/tropicalag.htm

India Releases National Action Plan on Climate Change

India's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh unveiled the National Action Plan on Climate Change which was prepared by the Prime Ministers' Council on Climate Change. The objective of the climate change action plan is to establish an effective, cooperative and equitable global approach based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and relative capabilities enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The National Action Plan reflected the importance the Government attaches to mobilizing our national energies to meet the challenge of climate change said Prime Minister.

The action plan will be implemented thorough eight national priority missions which represent multi-pronged, long-term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in the context of climate change and agriculture including solar energy; enhanced energy efficiency; sustainable habitat; conserving water; sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem; a "Green India"; sustainable agriculture; and set up strategic knowledge platform for climate hange.

Full copy of the National Action Plan on Climate Change and the Prime Minister's speech during the launch ceremony are available at http://www.pmindia.nic.in/Pg01-52.pdf and http://mnes.nic.in/nap-climates.htm. For more information about biotech development in India contact: b.choudhary@isaaa.org and k.gaur@cgiar.org

Disease Resistant GM Crops, Where Do We Stand?

Genetic engineering has been viewed as an important technology to help develop disease resistant crops, but to date only few disease-resistant GM crops have been introduced in the market. This is in stark contrast with the rate of adoption of insect pest-resistant and herbicide-tolerant crops, which represents more than 90 percent of the commercially available GM varieties. Why is this?

According to a paper published by the European Journal of Plant Pathology the answer lies primarily on the complexity of the biology of disease resistance. The differing biology of the various types of plant pathogens presents substantial problems in developing GM resistant plants. Plant pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, oomycetes and viruses, are physiologically very different, and thus no single gene product can be expected to have a direct toxic effect on these organisms.

The authors noted that three factors must be present for the successful adoption of disease resistant GM crops: the technical solution to a problem which has no other obvious alternative, the economic incentive for implementing the solution, and market and public acceptance. The combination of these factors is present in the virus-resistant papaya developed in Hawaii.

U.S. GM Cultivation Reaches 60 Million Hectares

In 2008, genetically modified crops were cultivated on almost 60 million hectares in the United States, according to the statistics published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This represents a growth of ten percent in comparison to last year's. GM soybeans now comprise 92 per cent of total soybean cultivation in the country, with the area planted to the crop rising from 23.6 million hectares in 2007 to 27.7 m ha this year. An increase of more than 95 percent has been recorded in the states of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota and Nebraska.

The area dedicated to GM maize, on the other hand, has remained almost unchanged (from 27.4 to 27.7 million hectares) because of a general reduction in the maize area. Nonetheless, cultivation of GM types increased by seven percentage points and now represents 80 percent of all planted maize.

The complete article is available at http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/news/368.docu.html

Read http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/#2008-7-2 for more information.

Report Tackles Global Impact Of Biotech Crops

A comprehensive study on the global impact of biotech crops by PG Economics says that "biotech crop commercialization has resulted in significant global economic and environmental benefits and is making important contributions to global security". PG Economics Limited, based in the United Kingdom, is a specialist provider of advisory and consultancy services to agriculture and other natural resource-based industries.

"Since 1996, biotech crop adoption has contributed to reducing the release of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, decreased pesticide spraying and significantly boosted farmers' incomes," said Graham Brookes, director of PG Economics and co-author of the report. "The technology has also made important contributions to increasing the yields of many farmers, raising global production and trading volumes of key crops. World price levels of crops like corn and soybeans would also probably be higher than the current (record high) levels if this technology had not been widely adopted by farmers. These economic and environmental gains have also been greatest in developing countries".

The full report can be downloaded from http://www.pgeconomics.co.uk

GM Papaya Transgenes Remain Stable For Several Generations

Insights from transgenic papaya genome sequences revealed that transgenes generally stay put following integration and can achieve stable expression level from generation to generation, according to a paper published by the journal Nature Biotechnology. The SunUp papaya variety, developed by scientists to combat the papaya ring spot virus, is the first transgenic organism to have its genome sequenced.

Ajay Kohli and Paul Christou, authors of the paper, noted that the genome now provides definitive evidences against transgene rearrangement, which is one of the suspected causes of the instability of inserted genes. The transgenes generally become a fixed part of the genome, with predictable and consistent expression patterns. Introduction of the foreign genes interrupted no endogenous gene; so that except for the virus resistance characteristic, the GM plants are functionally similar to their non-transformed counterparts. Despite the stability of the GM papaya variety, however, nonessential sequences such as the tetA and nptII marker genes and vector DNA remain in its genome.

Read the paper at http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v26/n6/full/nbt0608-653.html

Report on Synthetic Biology Now Published

A report commissioned by the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council's (BBSRC) Bioscience for Society Strategy Panel regarding social and ethical challenges associated with the research into, and the application of, synthetic biology has been published recently. The report, 'Synthetic Biology: social and ethical challenges' reviews what synthetic biology is, where it has come from, and where it is going, as well as making recommendations to research donors and the scientific community about how social and ethical issues should be addressed.

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