Plant Biotech Blog

The Associated Press
Albany, Georgia
A leading industry group has given scientists the go-ahead to build genetically engineered peanuts that could be safer, more nutritious and easier to grow than their conventional version.

The work could lead to peanuts that yield more oil for biofuel production, need less rainfall and grow more efficiently, with built-in herbicide and pest resistance _ traits that have already been engineered into major crops such as cotton, corn, soybeans and canola..

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By Glenn Tong
TheAge.com.au
December 20, 2006

EMILE Zola famously wrote of the Dreyfus case in his open letter J’accuse that “Truth is on the march and there is no stopping it”.

The world is increasingly acknowledging the truth that climate change is fact and not fiction. But are we prepared to explore every technological option available to us to respond to this alarming development?

Worsening drought conditions around Australia have brought into sharp focus the need for new technologies to meet the challenge of global warming. The indisputable reality is that we cannot afford the indulgence of ignoring genetically modified (GM) crops amid this worsening crisis. Gene technology allows the production of crops that can be grown much more efficiently in drought areas.

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One of the tragedies I saw in Africa were children who became blind from lack of vitamin A.

The Helen Keller l foundation estimates “between 250,000 and 500,000 children go blind from a lack of vitamin A in their diet, which also affects their growth, cognitive development and immune system. 70% of these children die within one year of losing their sight, and a total of 800,000 children every year from a lack of vitamin A. Supplementation with vitamin A capsules is the single most cost-effective health intervention according to the World Bank and other global health experts. It only takes two doses a year to prevent blindness – at a cost of approximately $1.

Yet even that small cost might be prohibitive to some countries, and other countries lack the infrastructure and personnel to give it out properly (too much vitamin A is toxic). And, of course, some children will not go to clinics, or their parents will refuse the medicine.One solution to this is a new genetically engineered rice, called golden rice because of it’s colour. “..Golden Rice is a transgenic variety of rice, which has genes for the synthesis of b-carotene (a vitamin A precursor). These genes are taken from the garden favourite Narcissus pseudonarcissus (daffodil) and inserted into the genome of a temperate strain of rice.” The rice has a golden color from the beta carotene (think carrots), and is being offered free to India where blindness from Vitamin A deficiency is common.

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NZ Biotechnology
December 8, 2006

New Zealand biotechnology is in great shape and continues to play a critical part in New Zealand ’s economy, contributing $300 million to $400 million each year, according to the New Zealand Biotechnology Industry Growth Report.

The report, being launched today, is a comprehensive analysis of the New Zealand biotechnology industry by respected international research company LEK Consulting, and ultimately will provide a robust baseline to measure the growth of this emerging sector.

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BharatTextile.com
December 5, 2006

NEW DELHI: The agriculture ministry, by acknowledging rise in Bt cotton acreage, has informed that government has no plans of banning the genetically modified crops including Bt cotton.

The announcement which is made by minister of state for agriculture, Kanti Lal Bhuria is expected to provide major relief to the Bt cotton farmers.

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The success of North America in developing GE Brassicas using the barnase/barstar gene system, gave an impetus to develop GE mustards in India.

GE Brassicas in India:
ProAgro, a private seed company in India, obtained from Belgium, a high yielding GE mustard based on the barnase/barstar gene system, in 1966. After several years’ of back crossing with the Indian varieties, ProAgro was permitted by the Review Committee for Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), to conduct field trials at 50 locations in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, with seven entries of three test GE hybrids and four check varieties for comparison. The field trials were co-ordinated by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which submitted a report to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). However, ProAgro’s application for commercialization of the high yielding GE mustard got caught in procedure and there ever so many new questions each time in the GEAC, leading to protracted delays. ProAgro got frustrated and withdrew its application.

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For several reasons inherent in the reproductive biology of the oil rapeseed and mustard, it was near impossible to produce hybrids among varieties of these crops, using conventional plant breeding techniques. For a time, plant breeders tried to use male sterility, the absence of functional pollen while the female gametes were normal.

Naturally occurring male sterility in crop plants:
Naturally occurring gene controlled male sterility is not common among crop plants, as they were always selected for high levels of fertility. However, natural male sterility sporadically occurs due to spontaneous mutations or hybridization, but can also be chemically induced. Natural male sterile plants were exploited in hybrid seed production in such crops as cotton, tomato, sunflower, cucurbits, tobacco, rice, wheat, barely, maize, sorghum and pearl millet.

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In consideration of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed on May 1, 2006, seeking a ‘ban on the release of genetically modified organisms/seeds having the potential of causing major health hazards’, the Supreme Court of India (SCI) directed the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) on September 22, 2006, not to give new approvals to genetically modified products until further orders. On October 13, 2006, the SCI, however, permitted the University of Delhi, South Campus (UDSC) to go ahead with field trials of a genetically engineered (GE) variety of mustard.

The Petitioner of the PIL has vehemently reacted alleging that the UDSC ‘may have suppressed important scientific information’, and that this ‘has consequently undermined and compromised a critical bio-safety order of the Court’. A number of issues were raised, with little evidence of understanding the science and modern technology behind developing hybrid mustards. The allegations of the Petitioner were widely reported in the Press and are likely to mislead the public. It is necessary that the entire background of cultivation of rapeseed and mustards, the problems in producing hybrids among them, the importance of the recent technology used, and the irrelevance of the allegations made by the activists, are made known to the public.

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