Nancy Kavazanjian
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Genes /Genetics,

Plant DNA found for the first time in animals, bizarre study reveals

New research reveals the whitefly Bemisia tabaci uses a plant gene to defend itself against plant toxins — the first scientific finding in an insect.

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Agriculture Global, Insects, Research, Ag Asia / Pacific, Genes /Genetics, World Population, Education,

Stolen plant gene shields insect from plant toxins

Whiteflies stole the gene 35 million years ago

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Nancy Kavazanjian
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Corn/Maize, Agriculture Global, Genes /Genetics, Ag Innovation,

The Science of Feeding the World

Scientists have made bold advances in biology and genetics that offer unprecedented power to tailor food crops to the environment, and to the needs of consumers.

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Nancy Kavazanjian
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Forestry, Genes /Genetics, Climate Change,

Should We Genetically Engineer Carbon-Hungry Trees?

Genetically modified trees that are designed to grow faster and store more carbon could help reverse climate change.

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Wheat, Food/Nutrition, Sustainability, GMO's, Ag United Kingdom, Genes /Genetics, World Hunger, World Population, Education,

Genome edited wheat to reduce cancer risk from bread and toast

Gene knockout reduces amount of harmful acrylamide forming

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Agriculture Global, Sustainability, GMO's, Research, CRISPR/Gene Editing, Genes /Genetics, World Hunger, World Population, Education,

Tweaking corn kernels with CRISPR - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Corn—or maize—has changed over thousands of years from weedy plants that make ears with less than a dozen kernels to the cobs packed with hundreds of juicy kernels that we see on farms today. Powerful DNA-editing techniques such as CRISPR can speed up that process. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor David Jackson and his...

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: GMO's, Ag Europe, Genes /Genetics, Government / Policies, Education,

Horizon Europe to fund research on genome editing in agriculture

Horizon Europe is to allocate €5 million for projects aimed at understanding the benefits and risks of genome editing technologies in agriculture over the next two years, according to a leaked draft work programme. The move is in support of the ‘Farm to Fork’ plan to reduce the use of fertilisers by 30 per cent and turn 25 per cent of agricultural land over to organic farming. To reach these objectives, the Commission says the EU needs to “enable major advances in the life sciences and biotechnology, in new genomic techniques, such as gene/genome editing.” Plans for the €5 million call come after EU agriculture ministers called on the Commission last October to enable the use of “new innovative ingredients and techniques” to boost sustainable food production, once they are shown to be safe for humans, animals and the environment. The headline figure for the call is only indicative, and the Commission could fund proposals that go beyond this figure. Also last October, French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier, director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, and her collaboration partner Jennifer Doudna, were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing.” But as things stand, precision breeding of plants with gene editing technologies cannot be used in the EU, following a 2018 ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which founds genome editing is subject to the 2001 EU directive banning genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In an early post-Brexit move, the UK last month launched an industry consultation on gene editing, as it seeks to move away from EU regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Depending on the outcome, there will be a second consultation on changing the definition of a GMO. The UK government view is that organisms produced by gene editing or by other genetic technologies, should not be regulated as GMOs if they could have been produced by traditional breeding methods. The proposed €5...

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John LaRose Jr.
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Soil Health, Forestry, Research, Genes /Genetics, World Hunger, World Population, Regenerative Agriculture,

Could lab-grown plant tissue ease the environmental toll of logging and agriculture?

It takes a lot to make a wooden table. Grow a tree, cut it down, transport it, mill it … you get the point. It's a decades-long process. Luis Fernando Velásquez-García suggests a simpler solution: ...

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Nancy Kavazanjian
shared this article 4 years ago
Topics: Potatoes, Genes /Genetics, Biotech,

Bangladesh to import blight resistant GMO varieties developed at Michigan State University

Thousands of farmers in Bangladesh grow potatoes on over one million acres of land, spending up to a fourth of their investment on fungicide sprays to fight late blight. The disease damages 20 perc…