Showing posts with label genes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genes. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Strawberry gender decided by two genes, not one
A recent article in the CheckBiotech site by Stephanie Yao reports that new research by an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist and her cooperators found gender in strawberries is determined by two genes, not one as previously believed.Strawberry plants possess one of three reproductive functions. Male plants bear flowers that produce pollen but cannot set fruit. Female plants produce fruit if their flowers are pollinated, but cannot produce their own pollen. Hermaphrodites contain both male and female functions that enable them to flower, self-pollinate and bear fruit. Neuters, which look like male strawberry plants, can also exist but do not posses reproductive functions. Read full article at the CheckBiotech site>
Monday, August 10, 2009
Scientists devise efficient way of learning about complex corn traits
There's no "silver bullet" gene or gene region that controls so-called complex traits in maize, commonly known as corn.
Instead, in two research papers published this week in the journal Science, North Carolina State University crop scientists and colleagues show that lots of small changes in a number of gene regions affect complex traits – like flowering time or reproductive ability – in corn.
Finding out more about the mechanisms behind complex traits like flowering time – as well as even more difficult-to-map traits like yield or drought tolerance, for example – has the potential to help plant breeders build the best traits into tomorrow's corn plants, says Dr. Jim Holland, NC State professor of crop science, research geneticist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) and one of the lead authors of the Science papers.
Read complete Press Release>
Instead, in two research papers published this week in the journal Science, North Carolina State University crop scientists and colleagues show that lots of small changes in a number of gene regions affect complex traits – like flowering time or reproductive ability – in corn.
Finding out more about the mechanisms behind complex traits like flowering time – as well as even more difficult-to-map traits like yield or drought tolerance, for example – has the potential to help plant breeders build the best traits into tomorrow's corn plants, says Dr. Jim Holland, NC State professor of crop science, research geneticist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) and one of the lead authors of the Science papers.
Read complete Press Release>
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The secret life of plants revealed
Botanists around the world have agreed on a standard plant DNA bar code, which will enable scientists to apply genetic technologies to find new medical cures and save endangered species. An international team of 52 scientists, including botanists from the University of Johannesburg, agreed that two chloroplast genes, matK and rbcL, should be adopted as the DNA bar code for land plants. Read more>
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Scientists probe tomato for key to feeding millions
Australian scientists have found a way to boost crop yields in a move they say could help feed and clothe millions of people in a time of climate crisis. Researchers at the University of Newcastle have found that by knocking out a gene from the genetic code of a tomato plant, it grows sweeter fruit and longer-lasting leaves. Associate Professor Yong-Ling Ruan, from the University's School of Environmental and Life Sciences, says the same technique could be used in a range of plants to boost crop yield and shelf-life. Read more>
Friday, July 10, 2009
Genes that change flowers' color are ID'd - UPI.com
| SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 9 (UPI) -- University of California-Santa Barbara scientists say they have identified the genes that are responsible for changing a flower's colors. Professor Scott Hodges and graduate student Nathan Derieg said they studied red columbines pollinated by hummingbirds and white or yellow columbines pollinated by hawkmoths to document the evolution of such flowers in North America. Read more: | |
| Genes that change flowers' color are ID'd - UPI.com Source: upi.com | |
Monday, June 29, 2009
Syngenta Licenses Chromatin Gene Stacking Technology for Sugar Cane
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc. announced today that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide research and commercial license agreement for Chromatin's proprietary gene stacking technology in sugar cane.
Chromatin has developed a novel approach to gene stacking, using the plant's own DNA to deliver several genes. Under this agreement, Syngenta has obtained exclusive rights to use Chromatin's stacking technology for trait genes in all members of the genus Saccharum which includes commercial sugar cane varieties as well as energy cane, and crosses between Saccharum and other plant species. Syngenta obtained non-exclusive rights for use of this stacking technology in corn and soybean in 2007.
Sugar cane is among the top crops grown today for use in sugar production and biofuels. Syngenta offers a broad range of crop protection products for sugar cane growers and is developing a novel planting technology planned for launch in 2010 under the brand name Plene(TM) that will help reduce production costs. New trait combinations in sugar cane could offer growers additional improvements in production efficiency and yield increases.
Read more:
Syngenta Licenses Chromatin Gene Stacking Technology for Sugar Cane: "Syngenta Licenses Chromatin Gene Stacking Technology for Sugar Cane
Chromatin has developed a novel approach to gene stacking, using the plant's own DNA to deliver several genes. Under this agreement, Syngenta has obtained exclusive rights to use Chromatin's stacking technology for trait genes in all members of the genus Saccharum which includes commercial sugar cane varieties as well as energy cane, and crosses between Saccharum and other plant species. Syngenta obtained non-exclusive rights for use of this stacking technology in corn and soybean in 2007.
Sugar cane is among the top crops grown today for use in sugar production and biofuels. Syngenta offers a broad range of crop protection products for sugar cane growers and is developing a novel planting technology planned for launch in 2010 under the brand name Plene(TM) that will help reduce production costs. New trait combinations in sugar cane could offer growers additional improvements in production efficiency and yield increases.
Read more:
Syngenta Licenses Chromatin Gene Stacking Technology for Sugar Cane: "Syngenta Licenses Chromatin Gene Stacking Technology for Sugar Cane
Sunday, June 28, 2009
A Truce in the Crop Wars
By Mac Margolis NEWSWEEK
Published Jun 27, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jul 13, 2009
A funny thing happened on the way to the next green revolution. The world's biggest biotech corporations have deployed the latest in genetic science to pump up yield, ward off crop disease, make food more nutritious and fundamentally reengineer what we plant and eat, and no one is complaining. Environmental groups are not shouting about the perils of "Frankenfoods." There's no rabid French cheese maker with a bad mustache leading foodies on a rampage through high-tech farms. Prince Charles is quiet. Has the war over the world's dinner table finally ended?
Not quite. Europe, much of Asia and parts of Africa fiercely resist filling the larder with genetically modified groceries, and many in agribusiness despair that they always will. So instead, they're trying to woo them with distinctly non-GM varieties. Crop scientists, seed companies and clever farmers are using the most advanced tools of science to reinvent native breeding—the age-old technique of selecting the best crops and then painstakingly breeding and crossbreeding them to make more and better food. These discoveries are remaking the world's farms by boosting productivity, creating more-nutritious food and steeling harvests against diseases and inclement weather. And yet because the new methods do not require gene splicing, they circumvent the conflict between Big Biotech and the Cassandras of food that has roiled for decades. In part, this is also a recognition that early claims for the coming genetically modified utopia were overstated.
Don't call it retro farming. Behind the revival of "traditional" farming techniques are many of the same breakthroughs in genetics, computerization and plant physiology that have driven the biotech revolution. The difference is, instead of food fashioned in the laboratory by lifting DNA from one species to another, scientists are working to unlock the secrets bundled inside each plant itself.
Read more:
Published Jun 27, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jul 13, 2009
A funny thing happened on the way to the next green revolution. The world's biggest biotech corporations have deployed the latest in genetic science to pump up yield, ward off crop disease, make food more nutritious and fundamentally reengineer what we plant and eat, and no one is complaining. Environmental groups are not shouting about the perils of "Frankenfoods." There's no rabid French cheese maker with a bad mustache leading foodies on a rampage through high-tech farms. Prince Charles is quiet. Has the war over the world's dinner table finally ended?
Not quite. Europe, much of Asia and parts of Africa fiercely resist filling the larder with genetically modified groceries, and many in agribusiness despair that they always will. So instead, they're trying to woo them with distinctly non-GM varieties. Crop scientists, seed companies and clever farmers are using the most advanced tools of science to reinvent native breeding—the age-old technique of selecting the best crops and then painstakingly breeding and crossbreeding them to make more and better food. These discoveries are remaking the world's farms by boosting productivity, creating more-nutritious food and steeling harvests against diseases and inclement weather. And yet because the new methods do not require gene splicing, they circumvent the conflict between Big Biotech and the Cassandras of food that has roiled for decades. In part, this is also a recognition that early claims for the coming genetically modified utopia were overstated.
Don't call it retro farming. Behind the revival of "traditional" farming techniques are many of the same breakthroughs in genetics, computerization and plant physiology that have driven the biotech revolution. The difference is, instead of food fashioned in the laboratory by lifting DNA from one species to another, scientists are working to unlock the secrets bundled inside each plant itself.
Read more:
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Knocking out a clock gene in plant cells interrupts mitochondrial function and energy release
June 15, 2009
A RIKEN-led group of molecular biologists has established the first direct link between the circadian clock mechanism in flowering plants and the functioning of the mitochondria, where energy is generated in the cells.
Daily rhythms in the biochemical or metabolic activity of cells have long been known across all biological kingdoms. They are governed by the oscillating activity of clock genes, the impairment of which has been shown in mice to be related lifestyle diseases such as obesity. In plants, production of plant biomass is likely to be linked with clock genes.
Recent studies in the genetic model plant Arabidopsis have revealed three key genes involved in the timing mechanism—CCA1, LHY and TOC1. These genes form the centerpiece of several interlocked feedback loops which establish and adjust the daily oscillation pattern.
Kazuki Saito and colleagues from the RIKEN Plant Science Center in Yokohama and Nagoya University studied the molecular impact of mutations in these key clock genes. They analyzed not only the direct changes in the nucleic acid and protein products generated by mutant genes, but they also looked at the differences in the downstream metabolic products formed. Details of their work were published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (1).
TOC1 is one of five related proteins known as the pseudo-response regulator (PRR) family. Previous work has shown them to be important components in adjusting the circadian system to changes in temperature and light. The researchers focused on a triple mutant of PRR9, 7 and 5 which leads to inability to establish a circadian rhythm under constant light. In previous work the research group demonstrated a strong link between this mutant and stress response in plants.
The triple mutant leads to late-flowering plants with dark green leaves. They are similar in appearance to those generated when the CCA1 gene becomes overactive. But the researchers found the metabolic details of two plant forms to be utterly different. In particular, they were surprised to find that the triple mutant led to a build-up of three key intermediate compounds of the tri-carboxylic acid pathway, the standard energy release process which takes place in the mitochondria of all higher organisms. The impact of the mutant PRR clock genes on the mitochondria was direct and unequivocal.
“We now want to determine the molecular components involved in this link between the clock genes and metabolism,” says Saito.
Fukushima, A., Kusano, M., Nakamichi, N., Kobayashi, M., Hayashi, N., Sakakibara, H., Mizuno, T. & Saito, K. Impact of clock-associated Arabidopsis pseudo-response regulators in metabolic coordination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106, 7251–7256 (2009).
The corresponding author for this highlight is based at the RIKEN Metabolomics Research Group
Saeko Okada Quelle: Research asia research news
Weitere Informationen: www.rikenresearch.riken.jp/research/724/http://www.researchsea.com/
Source:
A RIKEN-led group of molecular biologists has established the first direct link between the circadian clock mechanism in flowering plants and the functioning of the mitochondria, where energy is generated in the cells.
Daily rhythms in the biochemical or metabolic activity of cells have long been known across all biological kingdoms. They are governed by the oscillating activity of clock genes, the impairment of which has been shown in mice to be related lifestyle diseases such as obesity. In plants, production of plant biomass is likely to be linked with clock genes.
Recent studies in the genetic model plant Arabidopsis have revealed three key genes involved in the timing mechanism—CCA1, LHY and TOC1. These genes form the centerpiece of several interlocked feedback loops which establish and adjust the daily oscillation pattern.
Kazuki Saito and colleagues from the RIKEN Plant Science Center in Yokohama and Nagoya University studied the molecular impact of mutations in these key clock genes. They analyzed not only the direct changes in the nucleic acid and protein products generated by mutant genes, but they also looked at the differences in the downstream metabolic products formed. Details of their work were published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (1).
TOC1 is one of five related proteins known as the pseudo-response regulator (PRR) family. Previous work has shown them to be important components in adjusting the circadian system to changes in temperature and light. The researchers focused on a triple mutant of PRR9, 7 and 5 which leads to inability to establish a circadian rhythm under constant light. In previous work the research group demonstrated a strong link between this mutant and stress response in plants.
The triple mutant leads to late-flowering plants with dark green leaves. They are similar in appearance to those generated when the CCA1 gene becomes overactive. But the researchers found the metabolic details of two plant forms to be utterly different. In particular, they were surprised to find that the triple mutant led to a build-up of three key intermediate compounds of the tri-carboxylic acid pathway, the standard energy release process which takes place in the mitochondria of all higher organisms. The impact of the mutant PRR clock genes on the mitochondria was direct and unequivocal.
“We now want to determine the molecular components involved in this link between the clock genes and metabolism,” says Saito.
Fukushima, A., Kusano, M., Nakamichi, N., Kobayashi, M., Hayashi, N., Sakakibara, H., Mizuno, T. & Saito, K. Impact of clock-associated Arabidopsis pseudo-response regulators in metabolic coordination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106, 7251–7256 (2009).
The corresponding author for this highlight is based at the RIKEN Metabolomics Research Group
Saeko Okada Quelle: Research asia research news
Weitere Informationen: www.rikenresearch.riken.jp/research/724/http://www.researchsea.com/
Source:
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