GM newsletter Agnet Feb. 17/06

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Agnet Feb. 17/06Wheat genome research awarded $5 million USDA grantPhilippine govt in dilemna over GM foodsThe role of non-GM biotech in developing world agricultureDatabase of articles on GM crop plants availableNew high-lysine biotech corn releasedReport calls for end of GM ban in Australian statesNovel approach to fatten up castor beansMajor breakthrough in wheat genetics: Chromosome glue identifiedInsect birth control eradicates fruit flies from PatagoniaDraft exotic fruit fly strategic plan, fiscal years 2006-2010how to Wheat genome research awarded $5 million USDA grantFebruary 17, 2006University of California, DavisA national consortium of wheat breeders and scientists, led by Jorge Dubcovsky at the University of California, Davis, today was awarded a $5 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement modern technologies that will equip breeders to produce higher quality, disease-resistant wheat, one of the world's oldest and most widely used food crops.The technology, known as marker-assisted selection, allows the researchers to use the genetic information found in the plant's DNA to select those plants that carry desirable traits, such as disease resistance and improved quality."This grant will enable us to expand our research effort, provide training for graduate and undergraduate students, and share practical information about the technology with growers across the country," said Dubcovsky, project leader for the Marker Assisted Selection program for wheat. The program includes breeders and researchers at universities in 17 states and at four U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratories.Developing new varietiesWheat is unique among the major crop plants, Dubcovsky noted, in that researchers from public universities and government laboratories, rather than private companies, are largely responsible for providing new varieties to U.S. wheat farmers. For example, from 2001 to 2003, public wheat varieties accounted for 78 percent of U.S. wheat production, which amounted to an annual average of 38 million metric tons valued at more than $5 billion."The main objective of the Marker Assisted Selection project is to incorporate modern selection technologies to increase the competitiveness of these public wheat breeding programs," Dubcovsky said.The technologyMolecular markers are landmarks in the chromosome maps of plants or animals, which can be used to monitor the transfer of specific chromosome segments known to carry useful traits. Breeders use these markers to more precisely select for the best combinations of traits.In addition to using existing markers, the project also will "map" new markers associated with important agronomic traits. This is done by identifying the relative positions of marker genes on a chromosome and then measuring the association between the markers and the targeted traits. Researchers involved with the project will map, validate and implement these molecular markers for quantitative traits prioritized by the wheat industry.U.S. wheat researchers already have developed protocols for more than 50 molecular markers for genes that confer disease resistance and certain quality traits. They have used these markers in a previous project, also led by UC Davis, to incorporate valuable genes into the best breeding lines for 10 different market classes of wheat."These wheat lines will be used in the new project to deploy the targeted genes into thousands of lines across the breeding programs, with the help of high-throughput genotyping laboratories established by the USDA," Dubcovsky said. "Those laboratories will use modern equipment to provide breeders with the thousands of molecular markers required for this approach."More information about the Marker Assisted Selection program is available online at .The project is funded through USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service and administered through its National Research Initiative. The initiative supports research, education and extension grants that address key problems of national, regional and multistate importance in sustaining all components of agriculture.topPhilippine govt in dilemna over GM foodsFebruary 17, 2006Taipei TimesThe government has come under attack from health and enviornmental groups for its aggressive promotion of genetically modified crops to boost food productionThe story says that with one in three Filipinos subsisting on nutrient-deficient but cheap instant noodles, the Philippines is pinning its hopes on "Frankenstein food" to feed its impoverished millions despite environmental and health worries.Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban was cited as saying the government has been aggressively promoting genetically modified [GM] crops for widespread cultivation in order to boost food production, adding, "When your land area [for agriculture production] is getting smaller and your population is growing, then we have to resort to technologies ... to produce double than what was being produced in a given land."Panganiban said the Philippines is among the 12 countries in the world where over 85 percent of land is already under the most "intense use for agriculture, housing and industry."The agriculture department was encouraged by the response of Filipino farmers in cultivating Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn, the first GM crop introduced in the country five years ago.Greenpeace has warned Filipinos that the so-called "Frankenfood" -- or products whose inherent qualities have been artificially manipulated in a bid to produce goods with improved genetic traits -- could be harmful.topThe role of non-GM biotech in developing world agricultureFebruary 17, 2006SciDevNetZephaniah DhlaminiOne technology that deserves greater attention from both the public and policymakers is the use of tissue culture, the most widely used application of which involves creating copies of plants through a process known as micropropagation.In essence, micropropagation involves taking tissue (known as an ‘explant’) from a plant and growing it on sterile media containing substances essential for growth. Once it is growing well, samples of this culture can be taken and used to grow entire plants under laboratory conditions.The technique is currently used mainly with perennial crops that can reproduce vegetatively, producing new stems directly from the existing ones rather than needing to be pollinated and produce seeds.It can be used to create millions of new ‘clones’ from a single plant, each genetically-identical to the parent plant.The method can be used to produce large quantities of high-quality plant lines, to eliminate pathogens from infected planting materials, or to produce 'true-to-type' material from desirable plant lines.Micropropagation has been developed over many decades, and can now be considered a ‘mature’ plant biotechnology. It is already widely used in developing countries, especially Asia – in particular as a result of the immense market in China for plants generated in this way.It is relatively cheap, and has been shown in general to increase productivity (especially of root and tuber crops, such as sweet potatoes and potatoes).Its most common application in developing countries involves producing virus-free plantlets by heat-treating the explant to kill any viruses present and then culturing cells from its 'meristem', the plant's actively growing tissue.Because micropropagation cannot, however, guarantee that plants will be virus-free access to a virus diagnostic facility is essential.Anther culture and embryo rescueAnother widely used tissue culture technique, 'anther culture', uses the immature pollen-producing organs of a plant to generate fertile 'haploid' plants, which have half the full set of genetic material.These plants can later be crossed to produce pure homozygous 'diploid' plants, with identical copies of each gene, thus eliminating undesirable variation in key traits.The technique is popular among breeders as an alternative to the numerous cycles of inbreeding or 'backcrossing' usually needed to obtain pure lines.In vitro anther culture is now used routinely for improving vegetables, such as asparagus, sweet pepper, eggplant, watermelon and Brassica vegetables. It is also used, though to a lesser extent, for cereal crops such as rice, barley and wheat.A further refinement of the technique is the so-called 'microspore culture'. This involved isolating and culturing the cells from which pollen grains develop, and can yield up to ten times as many haploid embryos as anther rescue.A further tissue culture technique, known as 'embryo rescue' (or sometimes 'embryo culture') involves crossing species that are not normally sexually compatible. In nature embryos that result from such ‘wide crosses’ usually fail to develop. But in the laboratory, wide crosses can be used to transfer genetic traits from wild relatives of crops (i.e. secondary and tertiary gene pools) into cultivated crop plants (primary gene pools).An example is triticale, a relatively new hybrid variety that is the result of a cross between rye and wheat.topDatabase of articles on GM crop plants availableFebruary 17, 2006CropBiotech Updatehttp://www.isaaa.org/kcThe Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities is an association of seven academies of sciences and humanities created to promote scientific exchange and high quality research. The “Green Biotechnology” Commission of the Union has compiled a database containing about 240 publications on various aspects of genetically modified crop plants, with the aim of providing an overview of agricultural biotechnology applications in developing countries. The collection contains, in addition to many original publications, extensive reviews produced by organizations such as the Royal Society, the International Council for Science, and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as well as introductions to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety by the World Conservation Union and the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Global Reviews of Commercialized Transgenic Crops published by ISAAA are also included in this database.Fore more information and to access the database visit:http://www.akademienunion.de/publikationen/literatursammlung_gentechnik/english.htmlNote: this database requires Microsoft Access 2000 or higher.topNew high-lysine biotech corn releasedFebruary 17, 2006CropBiotech Updatehttp://www.isaaa.org/kcRenessen LLC announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) has deregulated Renessen's biotech corn containing the LY038 trait, clearing the way for commercializing the new technology for use in the livestock industry. High-lysine biotech corn contains higher levels of oil than conventional hybrids, and provides increased amounts of the essential amino acid lysine, a critical building block for animal proteins. This enhanced trait will reduce the need for livestock farmers to add synthetic lysine supplements to their animals’ diets.LY038 is the world’s first crop-based quality trait produced through biotechnology for the animal feed industry. It will be sold under the name Mavera™ High Value Corn with Lysine, and will be evaluated in an experimental field program in 2006, before being produced on limited acreage in 2007. At present, grain containing the biotech corn will only be marketed to specific end users in the United States.Renessen is a joint venture between Cargill Incorporated and the Monsanto Company. For more information, visit http://www.renessen.com. Download the press release at http://www.renessen.com/news/02.06.2006.eng.pdf.topReport calls for end of GM ban in Australian statesFebruary 17, 2006CropBiotech Updatehttp://www.isaaa.org/kcThe Australian Agriculture and Food Policy Reference Group was commissioned to help guide the development of future directions in Australian Government policies and programs affecting the agriculture and food sector. The Reference Group released this week its report: “Creating our Future: Agriculture and Food Policy for the Next Generation.” The full scale review calls for a lift of the state moratorium imposed on the commercial application of GM technology. Currently, Queensland is the only Australian state allowing the commercial planting of biotech crops.In response to the findings of the Reference Group, the National Farmers Federation (NFF), a group representing the interests of farm and food industries, issued a statement urging the State Governments to lift their GM moratoriums and to work with industry to ensure the benefits of the commercial application of approved GM technology can be captured in a safe and responsible way. "The world is moving forward on genetic technology, and those states that have moratoria are holding Australia back," says Mr. Corish, president of the NFF.For more information visit: http://www.agfoodgroup.gov.au/next_generation.html;http://www.nff.org.au/pages/nr06/007.html; http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/call-for-ban-on-gm-crops-to-end/2006/02/16/1140064205088.htmltopNovel approach to fatten up castor beansFebruary 17, 2006CropBiotech Updatehttp://www.isaaa.org/kcA team of researchers of the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, U.S. describe a high throughput approach designed to identify genes important for oil yield in castor bean. Their article: “A high-throughput screen for genes from castor that boost hydroxy fatty acid accumulation in seed oils of transgenic Arabidopsis” is published in the latest issue of the Plant Journal.The over-expression of known enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of fatty acids in castor beans has not been a successful approach to develop biotech castor beans with increased oil content, suggesting that additional genes to the ones engineered are required. To identify novel genes, the authors used the model species Arabidopsis thaliana and generated an Arabidopsis line over-expressing the castor fatty acid hydroxylase FAH12 gene. They subsequently introduced into this line the entire set of cDNAs expressed in the castor seed endosperm (the nutritive tissue surrounding the embryo within seeds) by biolistic transformation. The resulting transgenic seeds were screened to isolate lines with increased oil yields. The cDNAs responsible were then identified by PCR, and retransformed into castor seeds to confirm their contribution. Although this approach was designed for oilseed engineering, it can be applied to many areas of plant biotechnology.To view the abstract of the article “A high-throughput screen for genes from castor that boost hydroxy fatty acid accumulation in seed oils of transgenic Arabidopsis” visit:http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-313X.2005.02636.xtopMajor breakthrough in wheat genetics: Chromosome glue identifiedFebruary 17, 2006CropBiotech Updatehttp://www.isaaa.org/kcWheat is one of the most important food crops in the world, and the domestication of this grass species is intimately linked to the rise of agricultural practices. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is in fact a hexaploid, that is, it is composed of 6 sets of genomes (AABBDD) derived from 3 different species. Correct chromosome pairing and segregation during reproduction (meiosis) are essential for fertility and for ensuring genome stability. The Ph1 locus, residing on chromosome 5B, is responsible for this control, as chromosomes of lines carrying deletions of the Ph1 locus fail to pair properly.So what is Ph1? A research team lead by Dr. Graham Moore in the John Innes Centre, in Norwich, UK, adopted an ambitious strategy to answer this question, and they report their major breakthrough in the latest issue of Nature. The authors found that the Ph1 locus is localized to a 2.5 Mb region containing a segment of heterochromatin inserted into a cluster of cdc2-related genes (shown previously to affect chromosome condensation). The cdc2 genes are therefore the best candidatesfor Ph1 function. The presence of this structure correlates with Ph1 function in related species, and can therefore be used to generate fertile cross species hybrids. “This will make it possible to cross wheat varieties with wild relatives which have features like drought tolerance or can grow in more saline conditions”, said Dr Moore.Lys Holdoway, of Oxfam's Make Poverty History campaign, said: “This has the potential to benefit so many people who are struggling to grow food in very difficult soils and climates.”To view the first paragraph of the article: “Molecular characterization of Ph1 as a major chromosome pairing locus in polyploid wheat” access: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7077/abs/nature04434.html. Written with information from: http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/media-and-public/grains.htmtopInsect birth control eradicates fruit flies from PatagoniaFebruary 17, 2006CropBiotech Updatehttp://www.isaaa.org/kcA ten-year collaborative effort between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was successful in the eradication of the Mediterranean fruit fly in Argentina's Patagonia region. The method used, known as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), is a non-aggressive, low environmental impact technology. SIT is very powerful when applied as part of an integrated pest control strategy.SIT involves the generation of large numbers of male insects sterilized by low exposure to irradiation. Sterile insects are released in infested areas where they mate with wild-type females, but produce no progeny. If an area has more sterile males than fertile ones, the insect populations gradually decrease in size, and eventually disappear. “It is a birth control technology, which unlike most other pest control methods is ecologically friendly and cannot impact biodiversity or harm the environment. Since the released insects are sterile, they cannot become established in the ecosystems and thus have no potential to cause future adverse effects on the environment,” explained Walther R. Enkerlin, a member of the joint FAO/AIEA programme. FAO and the AIEA have also helped Chile and Mexico to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly using SIT.For more information contact inigo.alvarez or visit http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000225/index.htmltopDraft exotic fruit fly strategic plan, fiscal years 2006-2010February 17, 2006[Federal Register: (Volume 71, Number 33)][Page 8563][DOCID:fr17fe06-28][Docket No. APHIS-2006-0007]AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant HealthInspection Service has prepared a draft Exotic Fruit Fly Strategic Planfor fiscal years 2006 through 2010. We are making this draft strategicplan available to the public for review and comment.DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before March20, 2006.ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.govand, in the ``Search for Open Regulations'' box,select ``Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service'' from the agencydrop-down menu, then click on ``Submit.'' In the Docket ID column,select APHIS-2006-0007 to submit or view public comments and to viewsupporting and related materials available electronically. After the close of the comment period, the docket can be viewed using the ``Advanced Search'' function in Regulations.gov.Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send four copiesof your comment (an original and three copies) to Docket No. APHIS-2006-0007, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please statethat your comment refers to Docket No. APHIS-2006-0007.Reading Room: You may read any comments that we receive on thedraft strategic plan in our reading room. The reading room is locatedin room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and IndependenceAvenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someoneis there to help you, please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.Other Information: Additional information about APHIS and its programs is available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Mike Stefan, Director, Fruit FlyExclusion and Detection Programs, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 137,Riverdale, MD 20737-1229; (301) 734-4387.Sahakian at (713) 741-2118 or (800) 824-8647.topAgnet is produced by the Food Safety Network at the University of Guelph, and is supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Health Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, AGCare, the Agricultural Adaptation Council (CanAdapt Program), CropLife Canada, National Pork Board, ConAgra Foods, Inc, Monsanto Canada, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Ltd.,Food Safety & Security at Kansas State University, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food , Canadian Animal Health Institute, Council for Biotechnology Information, Syngenta Seeds, Inc USA, JIFSAN, Pfizer Animal Health, National Food Processor's Association, Potash and Phosphate Institute, Ag-West Bio Inc., Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, Feedlot Health Management Services, Syngenta Crop Protection Canada, Inc., Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Molecular Plant Breeding CRC, Tyson, Southern Crop Production Association, Canadian Grain Commission, Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, Tactix Government Consulting, Inc., Oregon State University Dept of Forest Science, Global Public Affairs and Agri Business Group, Inc. The Food Safety Network's national toll-free line for obtaining food safety information: 1-866-50-FSNET (1-866-503-7638).The Food Safety Network presents a unique opportunity to bring together all those associated with agriculture and food, to enhance the safety of the food supply. To provide financial support to the Food Safety Network, please visit http://www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/en/donation.php. For information on collaboration or fee-for-service opportunities, please contact Dr. Doug Powell: dpowellTo to the html version of Agnet (subscription is free), send mail to:listservleave subject line blankin the body of the message type: agnet-L firstname lastnamei.e. agnet-L Doug Powell(replace agnet-L with agnettext to to the text version of agnet)For more information about the Agnet research program, please contact:Dr. Douglas PowellAssociate Professordept. of plant agricultureUniversity of GuelphGuelph, Ont.N1G 2W1tel: 519-824-4120 x54280cell: 519-835-3015fax: 519-763-8933dpowellhttp://www.foodsafetynetwork.ca The Food Safety Network's bilingual toll-free line for obtaining food safetyinformation: 1-866-50-FSNET (1-866-503-7638)archived at http://archives.foodsafetynetwork.ca/agnet-archives.htm