[searcabic] Latest news postings on biotechnology, 21 November 2009
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Sat Nov 21 17:28:47 CST 2009
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*Posted 21 November 2009*
*PHILIPPINES*
1-NATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY WEEK 2009 TO SHOW LIFE ENHANCING TECHNOLOGIES,
INNOVATION
2-INTERNATIONAL OPINION SUPPORTS GMOS, ORGANICS COEXISTENCE
3-BISHOPS BACK ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE RICE RESEARCH
*MALAYSIA*
4-PALM OIL BOARD ACHIEVES ANOTHER FIRST IN OIL PALM GENOMES DEVELOPMENT
*AUSTRALIA*
5-AUSTRALIA TO HELP DEVELOP GM SUGAR CANE
*GLOBAL*
6-GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) RICE AT IRRI
7-CAN GM RICE FILL THE WORLD'S SHORTFALL?
*1-NATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY WEEK 2009 TO SHOW LIFE ENHANCING
TECHNOLOGIES, INNOVATION*
17-November-2009 Philippines Department of Science and
Technology<http://www.dost.gov.ph/>
Activities for this year’s celebration of the National Biotechnology Week
would confirm that biotechnology is not only for scientists, policymakers,
and farmers. Biotech, organizers assure, has something to offer to everyone.
The annual event adopted the theme “Bioteknolohiya para sa Kalikasan,
Kalusugan. Kagandahan, Kabuhayan, at Kaunlaran,” which will be held November
22-29, 2009 at the Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center in SM Mall of
Asia in Pasay City. It will highlight biotechnology breakthroughs in the
country that are expected to attract strong interest from environmentalists,
health enthusiasts, beauty buffs, entrepreneurs, decision makers,
development advocates, and including activities for students and kids.
Opening ceremonies is set Nov. 23 followed by a press conference, a forum on
business opportunities, and national council meeting of the Biotechnology
Information and Organization Network.
Other activities during the week include (Nov. 24) BIONet National Congress,
2nd Malunggay Congress, and Scientific Forum, (Nov. 25) Biotech for Kids,
Biotek Pangakabuhayan, DNA Forensic Workshop for Officers of PNP’s Women and
Children’s Desk, and Techno-mart, (Nov. 26) Seminar on Genetically Modified
Drought-Tolerant Crops, and Educational Forum for High School Students,
(Nov. 27) National Biotech Conference for Teachers (Heritage Hotel, Pasay
City), NIMBUS Scientific Conference and General Assembly 2009 and
Techno-mart, (Nov. 28) Public Forum on Health (Newborn Screening and
Vaccine) and Techno-mart, (Nov. 29) Public Forum on Biosafety, Public Forum
on Avian and Swine Flu, and Techno-mart.
All activities will be held at the Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center
at the SM MOA, except for the National Biotech Conference for Teachers that
will be held at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City.
NBW build-up activities are also set throughout the country from June to
November such as seminars, workshops, trainings, exhibits, investors’ forum,
techno-demo, and educational fora.
Meanwhile, DOST’s Philippine Science High School system will hold
educational fora on November 6 in Iloilo and November 23 in Davao to improve
the understanding of secondary school students, teachers, and the public on
current advances, issues, applications, and career opportunities in
biotechnology.
Other important activities for November include the awarding of research
fellowships in Nueva Ecija, and holding of the International Forum on Insect
Resistance Management for GM (genetically modified) Crops.
This year’s NBW is led by the Department of Science and Technology, in
collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Department of Health,
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Interior and
Local Government, Department of Education, and Department of Trade and
Industry.
Participating non-government organizations include the Biotechnology
Coalition of the Philippines, Biotechnology Information and Organization
Network Pilipinas (BIONet), Biotechnology for Life Media and Advocacy
Resource Center, and National Initiative for Multi-Disciplinary
Bioinformatics Utilization Strategies.
For more information on the 2009 NBW, please log on to
http://nbw.stii.dost.gov.ph/ or call Dr. Virginia Novenario-Enriquez or
Janet Polita of DOST’s Philippine Council for Advanced Science and
Technology Research and Development at (632) 837-2071 local 2102 or 2109.
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*2-INTERNATIONAL OPINION SUPPORTS GMOS, ORGANICS COEXISTENCE*
19-November-2009 Visayan Daily
Star<http://www.visayandailystar.com/2009/November/19/businessnews1.htm>
Provincial board member Enrique Lacson yesterday said that the international
view on commercial genetically-modified organisms tend to support the
contention that GMO's and organic products can coexist, particularly in
consumer markets.
Lacson attended a recent GMO summit in Melbourne , Australia with Board
Members Edgardo Acuña and Nehemias de la Cruz.
Lacson, who supports the proposed changes in the provincial GMO ban, said
that speakers at the summit argued that the question on coexistence between
GM products and organic produce is just a matter of “market strategy.”
While organic producers can command higher prices, they will have fewer
outputs, Lacson said.
At the conference, Lacson said one of the main drives concerning GMO's is
the production of GM rice, particularly during a talk by a speaker from the
International Rice Research Institute, which is based in Los Baños Laguna,
in the country.
Lacson said the IRRI's “golden rice” breakthrough is a viewed as a possible
solution to the country's situation, pointing out that the Philippines has
been tagged as among the biggest rice importers for the last five years.
In an Asian farmers exchange in August, scientists at the Philippine Rice
Institute explained that “golden rice”, named as such because of its yellow
gold appearance resulting from its high beta carotene content, can also help
address malnutrition concerns in the country.
Debates on possible changes in the provincial GMO ban have toned down for
the past months and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan had said that amendments in
the law may take some time because legal issues need to be further
discussed.*PP
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*3-BISHOPS BACK ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE RICE RESEARCH*
18-November-2009 Indian
Catholic<http://www.indiancatholic.in/news/storydetails.php/13900-1-1-Bishops-back-environmentally-safe-rice-research>
MANILA : The Philippine bishops' bioethics office says it supports efforts
to develop new rice strains to solve a rice shortage in Asia as long as
these do not harm the environment.
Dominican Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi of Caceres told UCA News the Church
will back the introduction of new rice strains if these will help feed over
1 billion malnourished Asians and Africans.
He said the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines was initially
against genetically modified organisms (GMO) when the technology was "not
yet so well defined."
The prelate noted "a gradual evolution" toward acceptance as it became
apparent GMO offers food safety and security as well as environmental
sustainability.
"Church opposition (to GMO) is no longer as strong" after a seminar on
"Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development" held by
the Pontifical Academy for Sciences in Rome May 15-19, the bishop said in an
interview Nov. 17.
The bishop's comments come as more than 700 scientists and agriculturalists
discuss new rice strains at the 6th International Rice Genetics Symposium in
Manila which runs from Nov. 16-19.
New strains are being developed to produce 50 million tons of rice by 2015
with no change in land cultivation, International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) director general Robert Zeigler said at the symposium's opening.
The plight of over 1 billion people stricken with poverty, 70 percent of
whom live in Asia and depend on rice as their staple food, is IRRI's
"driving force for our research" the institute's head said. "As rice yields
increase, the incidence of poverty decreases."
The IRRI is the largest non-profit agricultural research center in Asia,
with headquarters in the Philippines and offices in 14 countries.
Its mission is to reduce poverty and hunger, improve the health of rice
farmers and consumers, and ensure rice production is environmentally
sustainable.
"The Catholic bishops' conference has never opposed IRRI programs because
they are not considered harmful to the environment," Bishop Jose Rojas of
Libmanan, another bioethics office member told UCA News.
"GMO involves genetic engineering where you introduce one or more DNA
directly into the plant," David Mackill, IRRI Program Director of the
Genetic and Biotechnology Division, told UCA News at the symposium.
He said IRRI does not conduct genetic engineering and works somewhat like
farmers "who have been developing new crop varieties since the dawn of
agriculture, but this time using new technology."
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*MALAYSIA
4-PALM OIL BOARD ACHIEVES ANOTHER FIRST IN OIL PALM GENOMES DEVELOPMENT
*By Hanim Adnan
16-November-2009 The
Star<http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/16/business/5108011&sec=business>
AFTER a long tedious process to secure funds and the right international
genome expert partners, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) can now boast of
being the first in the world to succeed in sequencing three oil palm genomes
from two oil palm species, E.oleifera and E.guineensis.
MPOB unit Advanced Biotechnology Breeding Centre (ABBC) and its consortium
partners have sequenced, assembled and annotated to a certain extent, the
three oil palm genomes with 68 times coverage for combined sequences and
almost 94% completeness.
The consortium members include US-based Orion Genomics, South Korea-based
Macrogen Inc, MOgene LC and the Genome Centre at Washington University, and
Australia-based GeneWorks Pty Ltd.
(Genome is the scientific term for the blueprint, or set of chromosomes that
contains the genetic make-up and associated DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
which form all living things or organisms)
A source close to the industry told StarBiz that MPOB “three” genomes
sequencing project was more detailed and indepth compared with Sime Darby
Bhd’s “single” genome sequencing project which has 30 times coverage and
93.8% completeness announced in May.
Having said that, the genome sequencing projects undertaken by both private
companies and MPOB, the custodian of the oil palm industry, was seen as the
right steps towards achieving the Government’s target of higher fresh fruit
bunches (FFB) yield at 35 tonnes per hectare (ha) per year and oil
extraction rate (OER) of 25% per ha per year by 2020.
The Government is highly concerned with the national average oil palm yields
that have been stagnant for the past two decades at four tonnes per ha
annually.
According to MPOB director-general Datuk Mohd Basri Wahid, some RM100mil
investment was allocated for the genome sequencing project that provides a
comprehensive DNA genetic blueprint of the two palm oil species.
“Having access to the genome information will speed up researchers’ quest to
boost the existing oil palm yields efficiency and add value to the oil
characteristics for the production of food, animal feed and biofuel,” he
said.
Basri said the MPOB genome sequencing initiative had generated the most
comprehensive genetic and transcriptional maps to date of the important
crop.
MPOB and its partners would also be introducing the second genetic code of
the oil palm genomes, which is associated with “the silencing” of the genes
by the middle of 2010, he added.
(First genetic code is the existing DNA information on the palm tree. Second
genetic is anything that is due to changes in DNA due to environmental
factors such as tissue culture process, etc.)
The silencing of the genes would enable the production of new “targets” for
oil palm tree.
Meanwhile, Dr Mohd Arif Manaf, one of the MPOB ABBC scientists told StarBiz
that it was paramount for the genome project to target the improvement in
oil palm quality in terms of yields, resistance to diseases and pests,
tissue culture amenity traits among others.
In fact, he said there was an agreement between MPOB and its consortium
partners to ensure that the level of MPOB genome sequencing project should
be on par with the genome sequencing technologies of its partners.
In addition to the sequencing and assembling the genomes of the three palm
varieties, the consortium sequenced the express genes (transcriptome) from
multiple tissue types. “The transcriptome sequence will aid oil palm
researchers as they seek to understand the genes responsible for yield,
disease resistance and resistance to environmental stress,” Arif said.
Oil palm plantations on average produce 3.9 tonnes of oil per ha per year,
nearly 10 times more than other productive oil bearing crops like soybean,
rapeseed and sunflower.
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*AUSTRALIA
5-AUSTRALIA TO HELP DEVELOP GM SUGAR CANE
*12-November-2009 ABC
Rural<http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200911/s2740741.htm>
Australia's sugar industry has just struck a deal to develop the world's
first fully commercialised genetically modified sugar cane varieties.
A joint venture company between sugar research body BSES and international
crop protection giant DuPont aims to have GM cane in the ground in Australia
by 2016.
The move is a clear indicator the local industry is desperate to maintain
its competitiveness in a sugar world dominated by Brazil.
The deal will give Australian cane growers and millers access to DuPont's GM
technology and experience in approving and commercialising GM crops, while
DuPont gets to sell the rights worldwide.
The new varieties are expected to cost 55 cents per tonne at the farm, and
there are already grumbles as to how that cost will be shared between
growers and millers.
There are also concerns about consumer resistance to the sugar that comes
from GM cane.
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*GLOBAL
6-GENETICALLY MODIFIED (GM) RICE AT IRRI
*20-November-2009
IRRI<http://beta.irri.org/test/j15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=397&Itemid=100103>
Currently no varieties of genetically modified (GM) rice are grown
commercially in the world, although several have been approved for
commercialization. Many organizations around the world, including the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), are using genetic modification
as a research tool and in developing potential GM rice varieties.
*IRRI’s guiding principles in researching GM rice*
The International Rice Research Institute believes that genetic modification
and genetically modified rice have the potential to safely deliver unique
benefits to rice farmers and consumers that cannot be achieved through other
breeding methods.
Many technologies and rice breeding techniques are needed to develop and
deliver solutions to meet the challenges of food security, poverty, climate
change, and resource availability that rice producers and consumers face.
IRRI believes that responsible and ethical research and development of GM
rice present another opportunity that should be explored to help meet these
challenges.
IRRI conducts GM rice research where it helps us achieve our aims to
• reduce poverty and hunger;
• improve the health of rice farmers and consumers; and
• ensure that rice production is environmentally sustainable.
In undertaking our GM rice research, we
• Adhere to the national biosafety regulations pertaining to GM plants of
the country within which we are operating, comply with all relevant
international biosafety regulations, and uphold our own high internal
biosafety standards.
• Commit to researching both the advantages and disadvantages of any GM rice
that we are developing, or GM rice research we are engaged in.
• Ensure our GM rice research is scientifically rigorous and independently
assessed.
• Are open and transparent about the GM rice research we are doing,
communicate our scientific findings accurately, and provide only
scientifically sound information and advice on GM rice.
• Recognize the diversity of opinion about GM rice and that concerns exist
about its development and use.
• Consult with and seek input from the people, communities, industries, and
governments that have an interest in our GM rice research and use their
views and ideas to help guide our GM rice research and development.
• Respect intellectual property rights and ensure our research is lawful.
*GM rice research at IRRI*
Since the dawn of agriculture, farmers have been developing new crop
varieties. By selecting the best performing rice plants and using them to
breed new rice varieties, rice farmers, and more recently rice breeders,
have been changing the genetic composition of rice to generate new and
improved rice varieties for thousands of years.
Breeding methods have been continually evolving, becoming more sophisticated
and accurate at incorporating useful genes and traits into new crop
varieties. Genetic modification is a modern breeding method that is used at
IRRI to investigate and understand the diversity and function of rice genes
and to develop and deliver GM rice varieties.
*GENETIC MODIFICATION TO UNDERSTAND GENE FUNCTION*
Genetic modification is a valuable research tool that helps rice breeders
understand gene function and identify genes of interest.
IRRI has discovered regions of DNA that help rice
• tolerate early submergence, drought, heat, and salinity;
• resist tungro, bacterial leaf blight, and blast disease; and
• improve phosphorus-use efficiency.
IRRI is using genetic modification to help identify specific genes within
these DNA regions that are responsible for these traits. Once specific genes
associated with beneficial traits are identified, they can be more
efficiently transferred into new rice varieties using other breeding
methods.
Using genetic modification in this way can improve the accuracy of
identifying genes of interest and speed up the breeding process, even though
the end-product is not GM rice.
This approach has been successfully used to identify submergence tolerance
genes. As a result, IRRI has recently released submergence-tolerant rice –
non-GM rice that can tolerate and produce good yields after two weeks under
water, conditions that would decimate most other rice.
*GENETIC MODIFICATION TO DEVELOP GM RICE*
Genetic modification is also used to actually develop GM rice. It greatly
increases the accuracy of incorporating only the gene of interest, and its
associated trait, into a new rice variety. Unlike conventional breeding, it
can entirely prevent the inclusion of unwanted genes and associated traits.
Beyond this, the unique power of GM lies in its ability to incorporate novel
genes with useful traits for rice, including genes from plants and organisms
unrelated to rice, into new rice varieties that cannot be achieved using
other breeding methods. This is possible because all genetic information is
stored in DNA – which is the common building block of all plants and
animals.
IRRI has not developed any GM rice varieties yet. However, we are
researching the development and delivery of GM rice with improved
• drought, heat, and salinity tolerance;
• photosynthetic capacity to increase yield and enable it to become more
efficient in using water and nitrogen fertilizer (C4 rice); and
• nutritional value of the grain, including higher pro-vitamin A, improved
protein quality, and higher iron.
*Other breeding techniques*
*MARKER-ASSISTED BREEDING*
Marker-assisted breeding is a breeding technique that also helps to more
accurately breed new rice varieties and to do so in a shorter time frame.
In marker-assisted breeding, a gene or group of genes responsible for a
favorable trait is identified using a DNA marker to "flag" its location. As
in conventional breeding, two parent plants are still crossed, but this time
scientists can do a quick DNA test on the progeny to see if the marker is
present in the new plant. If it is, then the desired gene and its associated
trait have been successfully passed on to the new generation. Plants not
carrying the marker do not carry the gene of interest and are dropped,
simplifying the job of the plant breeder. Marker-assisted breeding can also
be used to minimize the number of unwanted genes in the new variety by
ensuring that only the markers associated with the gene of interest are
transferred.
Marker-assisted breeding is being increasingly and successfully employed at
IRRI to develop new rice varieties. IRRI’s recently released
submergence-tolerance rice is also an example of a rice variety developed
using marker-assisted breeding.
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*7-CAN GM RICE FILL THE WORLD'S SHORTFALL?*
By Matt Cawood
17-November-2009 Stock &
Land<http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/grains-and-cropping/general/can-gm-rice-fill-the-worlds-shortfall/1674768.aspx>
Genetically modified (GM) crops are not the only answer to Asia’s looming
food deficit, but multinational crop technology company Syngenta argues that
they must be part of the mix.
Syngenta made the case for GM technology to journalists in Bangkok two weeks
ago, as part of a broader effort to open Asian government doors that have so
far remained closed to genetically modified food crops.
Among the Asian nations, only India and China and The Philippines have
embraced the technology, with India planting around 7.6 million hectares of
cotton in 2009.
The Philippines is the only Asian country to date to introduce a GM grain
crop, planting about 400,000ha of maize in 2008.
Syngenta believes it is time for the barriers against GM to come down, so
that biotechnology companies can confidently invest in GM research ahead of
the looming food crisis.
“Given the projected increase in population and with less land and water
available, we will need all available agricultural technologies, including
biotechnology, to meet the current and projected global demand for food,
feed, fiber, and biofuels,” said Peter Pickering, Syngenta’s head of seeds
for the Asia Pacific.
“GM is not the only solution, but it is an extremely powerful one.”
In Asia, the urgency to grow more food from less land and water makes it
likely that GM rice will be eventually grown on a broad scale.
The influential International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has thrown its
weight behind the GM rice push, running its own GM research programs and
collaborations with private companies.
IRRI expects that the first GM rice, the famous “Golden Rice” engineered to
synthesise Vitamin A, could be grown in Bangladesh and the Philippines by
2012.
Vitamin A deficiency is reported to affect about 124 million people in
Africa and Asia. It is estimated to cause about one million deaths a year
and 500,000 cases of blindness.
Golden Rice carries genes from the daffodil and a soil bacteria which allow
it to synthesise beta-carotene, an inactive organic form of Vitamin A. Rice
can synthesise beta-carotene in its leaves, but the modification carries
that ability through to the rice grain.
Syngenta donated several of its patented technologies to the Golden Rice
project for humanitarian purposes, with other biotech companies also making
contributions—gestures that have done little to mollify Greenpeace’s
concerns that Golden Rice is a Trojan Horse being used to soften resistance
to GM.
Outside Golden Rice, production traits like water and nitrogen use
efficiency, and tolerance to salinity and flooding, are early targets of GM
rice research.
Syngenta is not working on specific rice products, Mr Pickering said, but
rather on understanding general traits that protect plants from stress.
“Our early stage research into drought resistance may result in traits that
could be utilised in rice,” he said.
“Syngenta also has input trait technology such as herbicide and insect
resistance which could also be incorporated.”
Improving yield, an all-important outcome if the goal of “more from less” is
to be met, is in Mr Pickering’s analysis not simply about increasing grain
number or volume but helping the seed to “deliver its genetic potential”.
“We believe that global rice yields could be increased from the current
average of around four tonnes per hectare to around six tonnes/ha, using
existing technology,” Mr Pickering said.
At Syngenta’s Philippines research facility, yields have sometimes reached
four times the global average using existing technology and management.
“This emphasises the point that the key to improving productivity lies in
the adoption of existing and new technology, and that biotechnology forms
just one part of the complete farmer toolbox.”
IRRI Media Relations manager Sophie Clayton told the Bangkok media workshop
that transforming rice from a relatively inefficient C3 plant to a more
water efficient, nitrogen efficient C4 plants is also on the IRRI research
agenda.
Meanwhile, there are other low-hanging fruit in the quest to deliver an
extra 8-10 million tonnes of rice to Asia each year, Ms Clayton said.
Post-harvest losses from inefficient threshing, storage and milling
currently accounts for up to 25 per cent physical losses between farm and
rice consumer—offering a substantial boost to Asia’s food supply if those
losses can be recaptured.
** Matthew Cawood was a guest of Syngenta in Bangkok. *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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*New Approaches toward Agricultural Productivity in a Changing Climate
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* <http://www.searca.org/web/adss/2009/index.html>
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*Philippines' National Biotechnology Week* <http://www.bic.searca.org/>
*Manila, Philippines
23 - 29 November 2009*
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and its Environmental Impact* <http://7btconference.org/>
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