GM poplar field trials result to sustainable biomass production without isoprene emission

A group of scientists were able to successfully developed genetically modified (GM) poplar trees that do not emit the gas isoprene. Two field trials in the US showed that the GM poplars were not affected by their non-production of isoprene and they grew normally just like conventional poplars. Isoprene is …

Scientists use CRISPR to develop apples Resistant to fire blight

Erwinia amylovora, the bacterium that causes the fire blight disease in apple, triggers its infection through the DspA/E effector which interacts with the apple susceptibility protein MdDIPM4. Researchers used the CRISPR-Cas9 system to produce defective MdDIPM4 which were delivered to susceptible apples (cultivars, ‘Gala’ and ‘Golden Delicious’) using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. …

Rice plants that grow as clones from seed

Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones. The discovery, long sought by plant breeders and geneticists, could make it easier to propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant or climate-tolerant crops and make them available to the world’s farmers. The …

CRISPR-Cas9 delivered in wheat using Agrobacterium

Researchers have been using biolistics in delivering the genome editing complex in wheat due to difficulties in Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation in the species. However, scientists from Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in China and colleagues overcome this limitation by successfully targeting three wheat genes using CRISPR-Cas9 delivered via Agrobacterium-mediated genetic …

Map shows public sector biotech products in the pipeline around the world

A database that features the vast amount of research and development on biotech crops being conducted by public sector institutions and research centers around the world is now available. The database produced by CropLife International features the crops being developed in different countries, including the traits for each crop. The …

“Fooling” soybeans yields better plants a generation later

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have fooled soybean plants into thinking they were under attack by temporarily silencing the expression of a critical gene. After selectively cross breeding those plants with the original stock, the progeny “remember” the stress-induced responses and become more vigorous, resilient, and productive. This epigenetic reprogramming …