[Ngo-sanrm] Fwd: Crop Biotech Update

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group ngo-sanrm at ngocentre.org.vn
Mon Jun 8 12:57:31 BST 2015


For everyone's information . . .

This is from the ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-biotech Applications), offices in Ithica, New York, from their May 6,
2015 newsletter. Apologies if this is a duplicate posting.  CS

*Donors*

   - AATF-African Agricultural Technology Foundation
   - ABSPII/Cornell University
   - ACTESA-Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa
   - African Biosafety Network of Expertise
   - Ain Shams University
   - ASARECA-Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern
   and Central Africa
   - Bayer CropScience Ag
   - BBA - Burkina Biotech Association
   - BioInnovative Program, ILRI
   - Brazil-Africa Market Place
   - Cairo University
   - CropLife Asia
   - CropLife International
   - Department of Agriculture, Philippines
   - IDRC-International Development Research Center of Canada
   - KGT - TBP - Tree Biotechnology Programme
   - Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Pvt. Ltd (Mahyco), India
   - Monsanto
   - NaCCRI - National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI)
   - NACOSTI-National Council for Science and Technology Innovation, Kenya
   - NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency
   - Program for Biosafety Systems, IFPRI
   - RECOAB - Regional Agricultural Reporters’ Network
   - SEAMEO SEARCA, Philippines
   - United Phosphorus Limited
   - US Department of Agriculture
   - US Department of State
   - US Soybean Export Council
   - USAID
   - Vibha Agrotech Pvt. Ltd, India


*Patrons*

   - Norman Borlaug† (First Founding Patron)
   - Richard B. Flavell (USA)
   - Dafang Huang (China)
   - Jiro Kondo (Japan)
   - Gabrielle J. Persley (Australia/UK)
   - M.S. Swaminathan (India)
   - Marc vanMontagu (Belgium)




*CHUCK SEARCY*

*Project RENEW / VFP Chapter 160*

*Agent Orange Working Group*
*71 Trần Quốc Toản, Hà Nội, Việt Nam*

*M    +8 490 342 0769*

*E     chuckusvn at gmail.com <chuckusvn at gmail.com>*

*Sk   chucksearcy*

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Crop Biotech Update <cropbiotechupdate at isaaa.org>
Date: Wed, May 6, 2015 at 3:36 PM
Subject: Crop Biotech Update (May 6, 2015)
To: Charles <chuckusvn at gmail.com>




<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=b1a3d03393&e=9c14d9ad52>
Crop Biotech Update
May 6, 2015
​​
www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=71f0967cf4&e=9c14d9ad52>

<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=d0f457bcbb&e=9c14d9ad52>
      Folate Biofortified Rice Could Prevent Birth Defects
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=0612ffc3cf&e=9c14d9ad52>
Section: News from Around the World
<#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section1>

Folate biofortified rice
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=d6179fffff&e=9c14d9ad52>
(FBR) could help decrease birth defects, according to a new study of Ghent
University in Belgium and Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences in
China.

About 50-70 percent of all neural tube defects are attributed to maternal
folate deficiency. The researchers suggest that the FBR they have developed
could be one of the solutions to this health concern, particularly in
Balrampur, India and Shanxi, China
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=988a6930a1&e=9c14d9ad52>,
where there is prevalent folate deficiency.

In their study, the researchers used Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY),
which is the standard metric of the World Health Organization. DALY
reflects the sum of Years of Life Lost (YLL), a measure of premature
mortality, in addition to the Years Lost due to Disability (YLD), which
accounts for both morbidity and mortality for those with health problems.
By the team's count, folate biofortification
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=bec7952ec3&e=9c14d9ad52>
could eliminate between 29 and 111 DALYs per year in Balrampur per 1,000
births and between 47 and 104 DALYs in Shanxi.

Read more at Genetic Literacy Project
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=e22f0713dc&e=9c14d9ad52>
and Ghent University
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=14fca5a891&e=9c14d9ad52>
.
     Kenyan Farmers Visit South African GM Crops Fields
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=6dc8a7a7d0&e=9c14d9ad52>

<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=b227a3f245&e=9c14d9ad52>
 <#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_>
Section: News from Around the World
<#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section1>

More than thirty stakeholders from Kenya, mainly farmers
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=3f1a104c19&e=9c14d9ad52>,
participated in a one week study tour to South Africa
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=b0a2e48cb8&e=9c14d9ad52>
from April 19-23, 2015. The objective of the visit is to showcase to the
Kenyan farmers how farmers in South Africa have adopted useful technologies
that address their challenges.

The participants visited 5 farms, including Ephraim Mogale's municipality
in Limpopo Province and Boekenhoutskloof in Gauteng Province. They held
discussions with farmers, government officials, biosafety
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=cc35fb7d8d&e=9c14d9ad52>
officers, and technology developers. From these engagements, it emerged
that adoption of GM crops
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=0c7386800f&e=9c14d9ad52>
in South Africa was farmer driven.

"We were fed up with weeding and spraying pesticides to control bollworms
and weeds. When the technology was introduced, we rapidly picked it up,"
said Frans Mallela, one of the large-scale farmers in Limpopo Province.
According to Mr. Mallela, since he started growing GM cotton
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=14cd2031fb&e=9c14d9ad52>,
he recorded an increase in yields, from 4 hectares to 150 hectares. He has
moved from GM cotton with a single trait to stacked traits
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=9f6ba2b022&e=9c14d9ad52>
(insect resistance
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=7bb0012f53&e=9c14d9ad52>
and herbicide tolerance
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=d41cf2fac9&e=9c14d9ad52>).
"Cotton with the two traits does not require a big land for refugia. This
helps me to maximize on yields," said Mallela. "When I first went into
farming, as a part time job, I used to plant conventional maize
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=6684e2a5ce&e=9c14d9ad52>
and the harvest never went beyond one tonne per hectare. Now with
biotechnology
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=50e00c9d32&e=9c14d9ad52>,
I get up to 7 tonnes per hectare if the rain is good," Mr. Mallela added.

The participants were impressed with the way South African farmers are
enthusiastic about the benefits of GM crops. "Some of us have heard
negative stories about the GM technology. We are going to urge our own
government to avail this technology to Kenyan farmers because we have
similar circumstances with South African farmers" said Mr. Titus Ndalemia,
a farmer from Machakos, Eastern Kenya.

The study tour was organized by AfricaBio in partnership with the African
Agricultural Technology Foundation and ISAAA
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=afdbc00199&e=9c14d9ad52>
*Afri*Center.

For more information, contact Daniel Otunge at d.otunge at aatf-africa.org.
     Cause of Wheat Resistance to Scab Discovered
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=9579b24507&e=9c14d9ad52>

<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=0179eaab64&e=9c14d9ad52>
 <#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_>
Section: News from Around the World
<#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section1>

Dr. Rachid Lahlali from the Canadian Light Source (CLS), together with a
research team from the CLS, National Research Council Canada, University of
Saskatchewan, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada used the synchrotron to
image both healthy and infected wheat
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=0c0b8ec2d3&e=9c14d9ad52>
spikes and florets to understand the development and progression of the
Fusarium head blight disease.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a huge global problem, caused by a fungus
that attacks the head of the wheat plant, causing the kernels to shrivel up
and produce toxins. The disease affects wheat and barley crops in Canada,
China
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=d02802d944&e=9c14d9ad52>,
parts of southern Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, and the US.

"What we were trying to do using the synchrotron is to understand how the
fungus infects the plant and see what changes are happening. What we found
are biochemical markers at the point of where the infection begins," said
Dr. Lahlali. The research team used novel techniques developed at the CLS
to image living wheat plants. According to Dr. Lahlali, they saw the
differences in the wheat infected by the fungus and experiments showed that
the structures could be lost or altered, and traits can be changed for the
plants to become FHB resistant.

For more details, read the news release at the CLS website
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=62f552efdc&e=9c14d9ad52>
.
     Scientists Create Low-Allergen Soybean
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=47ab1368f1&e=9c14d9ad52>

<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=05fc28f603&e=9c14d9ad52>
 <#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_>
Section: News from Around the World
<#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section1>

University of Arizona scientists Monica Schmidt and Eliot Herman and
University of Illinois scientist Theodore Hymowitz have created a new
soybean
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=7b14e0edce&e=9c14d9ad52>
with significantly reduced levels of three key proteins responsible for
both its allergenic and anti-nutritional effects. Herman and his colleagues
at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have identified in 2003 that P34 is
soybean's key allergen.

The research team screened 16,000 different varieties of soybean and they
found one that almost completely lacked the allergen P34. The team stacked
the P34 null with two varieties previously identified by Hymowitz that
lacked soybean agglutinin and trypsin inhibitors, proteins that are
responsible for soybean's anti-nutritional effects in livestock and humans.
After nearly a decade, the team has produced a soybean that lacks most of
the P34 and trypsin inhibitor protein, and completely lacks soybean
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=fe35af1bcf&e=9c14d9ad52>
agglutinin. They have called the new variety "Triple Null."

For more about this research, read the news article at the University of
Arizona website
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=6451a5a9db&e=9c14d9ad52>.

    *Sections*
News from Around the World

   - Cause of Wheat Resistance to Scab Discovered
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=41577932c7&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Kenyan Farmers Visit South African GM Crops Fields
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=66b8a83365&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - USDA Announces Comment Period for GE Potato Assessment Results
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=a262186e63&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Canada Revises Draft Policy on LLP of GM Crop Imports
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=97ce2de814&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Scientists Create Low-Allergen Soybean
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=2706fb754b&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Ice Plant's Red Pigments to Improve Crops' Saline Tolerance
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=13a0c71bf2&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Cross-Species Meta-Analysis Reveal Drought-adaptive Genes
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=6849334242&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Folate Biofortified Rice Could Prevent Birth Defects
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=9ad7f50ae6&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Mycorrhiza Fungus Aids in Designing Better Crop Root System
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=50f2d3645f&e=9c14d9ad52>

 Research Highlights

   - Scientists Use Proteomics to Compare GM and Non-GM Beans
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=deaf0deef5&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - AKIN10 Delays Flowering by Inactivating IDD8 Transcription Factor in
   Arabidopsis
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=e76083ef96&e=9c14d9ad52>

 Beyond Crop Biotech

   - Scientists Crack Bumblebee's Genome
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=6b90de3f9e&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Researchers Find Protein Responsible for Orchid Shape
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=695a874ff7&e=9c14d9ad52>
   - Mitochondrial Genome of *Silene noctiflora *Undergoes Chromosome
   Gain/Loss
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=1e3523e676&e=9c14d9ad52>

 From the BICs

   - Biotechnology the Way to Go, Miss Uganda
   <http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=9c68f396ac&e=9c14d9ad52>

     Sections
News from Around the World <#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section1>
Research Highlights <#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section2>
Beyond Crop Biotech <#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section3>
>From the BICs <#14d2865c1e0bc7d4_14d285ee7862b4e0_section6>
  Biofuels Supplement
 April 29, 2015 issue
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=c836638756&e=9c14d9ad52>
  GM Approval Updates
South Korea has given new approvals to the following events: 73496
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=e89e9585bc&e=9c14d9ad52>
(HT canola); MON88302 x MS8 x RF3
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=86977ac428&e=9c14d9ad52>
(HT
+ PC canola); MON88701
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=75975f1066&e=9c14d9ad52>
(HT cotton); MON87427 x  MON89Ø34 x TC15Ø7 x MON88Ø17 x 59122
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=668ded30e9&e=9c14d9ad52>
(HT + IR maize);  MS8 x RF3 x GT73
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=d50eb20524&e=9c14d9ad52>
(HT + PC canola); MON87769 x MON89788
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=06046f0b48&e=9c14d9ad52>
(HT + PQ soybean); and a new cotton event GHB614 x T304-40 x GHB120 x COT102
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=50c3a65770&e=9c14d9ad52>
(HT + IR).
Visit GM Approval Database
<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=9f22dd30de&e=9c14d9ad52>
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<http://isaaa.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=90d9912fca3d624d294e24b28&id=931af60e7c&e=9c14d9ad52>
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