<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div><span>Thanks very much, Trude. This may be extremely important. I've made a few notes below, which are <span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 223);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span>highlighted</span></span></span>.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent;"><br><span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent;"><span>I'm also copying this to members of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group (SANRM) and hope that more knowledgeable members will correct me if my comments below are not accurate. <br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family:
verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br><span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>CHUCK</span> <br></div><div><font size="1"><br><span style="font-style:italic;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);font-weight:bold;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-style:italic;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);font-weight:bold;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><font style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);" size="1">==================================<br>CHUCK SEARCY<br>Project RENEW <br></font></font><font size="1"><font style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);" size="1"><font size="1"><font class="yui_3_2_0_19_134810707705786"
style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);" size="1">Vietnam Enterprise Group</font></font><br>Humpty Dumpty Institute<br>Veterans for Peace<br>25 Truong Han Sieu, #302, Hanoi, Vietnam<br>Mobile: +84 (0) 903 420 769<br>Email: chucksearcy@yahoo.com<br>Web: landmines.org.vn<br>Web: vietnamenterprisegroup.com<br>Web: thehdi.org<br>Web: veteransforpeace.org<br>Skype: chucksearcy<br>==================================</font></font><br><span><br> </span><div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Trude <trude_bennett@unc.edu><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> chucksearcy@yahoo.com <br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, November 29, 2012 8:17 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> BBC E-mail: Key wheat genetic codes unlocked<br> </font> </div> <br>
Trude saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you<br>should see it.<br><br>** Key wheat genetic codes unlocked **<br>Scientists
unlock key parts of the complex genetic code of wheat, one of the
world's most important crops, which could help improve food security.<br><br><a href="http://us.mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/&lt;%20http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/science-environment-20512197%20&gt;">< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/science-environment-20512197 ></a><span><br><br></span><br><div class="story-body">
<span class="story-date">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="date">28 November 2012</span>
<span class="time-text">Last updated at </span><span class="time">18:00 GMT</span>
</span></span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><h1 class="story-header"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Wheat genome's key parts unlocked in new study</span></h1><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span class="byline">
<span class="byline-name">By Mark Kinver</span>
<span class="byline-title">Environment reporter, BBC News<br><br></span>
</span>
</span><div class="caption body-narrow-width">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64419000/jpg/_64419372_wheatgrainreuters.jpg" alt="Wheat harvest (Image: Reuters)" height="400" width="304">
<span style="width:304px;"><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 10px;">Wheat provides one fifth of the global population's intake of calories</span></span></span></span>
</div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="story-feature related narrow">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Scientists
have unlocked key parts of the complex genetic code of wheat, one of
the world's most important crops, which could help improve food
security.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class="introduction"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The team hopes the data will accelerate the development of
varieties more resilient to stresses, such as disease and drought, that
cause crops to fail.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The 2012 wheat harvest was hit by extreme weather events around the globe, causing a sharp rise in prices. <br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Details of the findings have been published in the journal Nature. <br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">In 2011, the global output of 681 million tonnes made bread
wheat the third most-produced food crop (behind maize and rice) and
accounted for about 20% of the calories consumed by the world's
population. <br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The study - involving UK, US and German scientists - has
built on the 2010 publication of the draft genome, resulting in the
development of tools that can decipher the genetic code of segments of
the genome.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The researchers hope the information could help breeders
produce varieties that are better suited to cope with future threats to
production yields.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Key traits</b></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br></b></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"One of the things about why bread wheat is grown all over
the world is that you are able to adapt it to local environments,"
explained co-author Neil Hall from the University of Liverpool's
Institute of Integrative Biology.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 223);"><span style="font-style: italic;">As far as I know, Vietnam is not able to grow wheat. They have tried, with little success -- at least that's my understanding. There may be some areas where wheat can be grown but I'm not aware of such locations. I would have to inquire to be sure. In any case, this development might lead to strains which Vietnam could grow successfully.</span></span><br></span></div><div style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"The tools we have generated will allow people to more
rapidly identify where in the genome these traits are located and breed
them into new lines."</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><div id="story_continues_2"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Prof Hall told BBC News that the tool would also "help identify disease resistance and better grain quality".</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"We know that there are wild varieties that are particularly
good when it comes to drought resistance or flood resistance, but they
have very low productivity," he added.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"You have got to get those high-productivity traits into backgrounds that are more resistant to things like drought or disease."</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The researchers say that breeders and researchers will now be
able to select plants with desirable combinations of genes using the
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 128);">genetic landmarks (known as markers)</span> identified in the study<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 223);"><span style="font-style: italic;">My
understanding (based on Jeffrey Smith's presentations) is that
"markers" are a safe, natural "hybridization" process to encourage
better strains of plants and seeds <span style="text-decoration: underline;">but through natural selection</span>. If the genetic alteration is rejected by the plant, that's fine, that's a natural process. The genetic modification is not <span style="text-decoration: underline;">forced</span><span>
into the biological makeup of the plant through the radical and
powerful injection of millions of genes until one manages to cling to
the target and heal the damage sufficiently to create an entirely new
gene. Genetic markers are simply speeding up a natural selection
process. (Sorry, that's a my layman's way of expressing </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 223);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 223);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span>ineffectively </span></span></span></span> a much more complex process, I'm sure.)</span></span></span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 223);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span><br></span></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"With
markers, breeders can track the genetic make-up of
plants when new varieties are being bred," explained co-author Prof Mike
Bevan from the John Innes Centre, Norfolk.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"Plants lacking the desired traits can be eliminated more
efficiently, and those with the desired characteristics identified more
quickly, speeding up the production of new varieties." <br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Prof Hall said that while it was difficult to forecast when
the first varieties of wheat using the new technique would be grown, he
said that it was possible that it could be as little as five years.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Prof Douglas Kell, chief executive of the UK's Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council, which funded the research,
commented: "In the face of this year's wheat crop losses, and worries
over the impact on prices for consumers, this breakthrough in our
understanding of the bread wheat genome could not have come at a better
time.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></span></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"This modern strategy is a key component to supporting food
security and gives breeders the tools to produce more robust varieties
with higher yields."</span></div><div class="story-feature wide "><h2><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Facts about the 'staff of life'</span></h2>
<div class="caption body-narrow-width">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64419000/jpg/_64419289_wheatreuters.jpg" alt="Wheat field, Australia (image: Reuters)" height="300" width="304"></span>
</div>
<ul><li><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> Wheat (<i>Triticum spp</i>) was one of the first domesticated food crops</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> For about 8,000 years, it has been the basic staple food of many major civilisations</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> The crop can be grown from equatorial regions to within the Arctic Circle</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> Wheat has been recorded growing as high as 4.5km above sea level</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> Raised bread loaves are possible because the wheat kernel
contains gluten, which traps minute CO2 bubbles when fermentation
occurs </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> It is grown on more than 240m hectares, more than any other food crop</span></li></ul> <div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>(Source: UN FAO)</i></span></div>
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</span></div><span><br><br></span></div><div><span></span></div><div></div><div><br> <blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><div style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </div> </blockquote></div> </div></body></html>