JPL researcher Sassan Saatchi is using UAVSAR to study the structure biomass and diversity of tropical cloud forests in the Peruvian Andes
and counter the killer viruses they transmit. The dual resistant insect and virus varieties may reduce
or even eliminate the need for pesticides in several regions. Thrips are tiny insects that pierce
They also transmit such diseases as the tomato spotted wilt virus causing millions of dollars in damage to U s. agricultural crops each year.
Adapting a novel form of insect resistance discovered in a wild plant native to Peru Mutschler-Chu professor of plant breeding and genetics first isolated the resistance.
The process does not require genetic modification and is completely safe. After successfully transferring the resistance into new lines
one or both of two natural genes known to resist the so-called TOSPO viruses which include tomato spotted wilt virus
. If some thrips get through with the virus the virus resistance genes are there to mop it up Mutschler-Chu said.
The Cornell thrips-resistant tomato lines with and without the virus resistance genes will be used by Mutschler-Chu
and an interdisciplinary team of eight other scientists from seven other institutions nationwide as part of a new five-year $3. 75 million project to control thrips and TOSPO viruses in tomatoes.
The project is funded by the U s. Department of agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative and is led by entomologist Diane Ullman of the University of California Davis
or tweaking virus resistance Mutschler-Chu wants to discover the best package for insect and virus control.
During that time new tools of molecular biology were developed from PCR-based markers and SNP markers to the sequencing of the tomato genome.
Using the new methods it took Mutschler-Chu 10 years to develop the first tomato line with enough acylsugar then four years to create a better series of 30 lines.
Humans have had far-reaching impacts on ecosystems said author Tyler Coverdale a researcher in the lab of lead author Mark Bertness chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
#Verifying that sorghum is a new safe grain for people with celiac diseasestrong new biochemical evidence exists showing that the cereal grain sorghum is a safe food for people with celiac disease who must avoid wheat
They describe evidence from an analysis of the recently published sorghum genome the complete set of genes in the plant
Our new process could help end our dependence on fossil fuels said Y. H. Percival Zhang an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life sciences and the College of Engineering.
Hydrogen is one of the most important biofuels of the future. Zhang and his team have succeeded in using xylose the most abundant simple plant sugar to produce a large quantity of hydrogen that previously was attainable only in theory.
Zhang's method can be performed using any source of biomass. The discovery is featured a editor's choice in an online version of the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Jonathan R. Mielenz group leader of the bioscience and technology biosciences division at the Oak ridge National Laboratory who is familiar with Zhang's work
This amounts to a significant additional benefit to hydrogen production and it reduces the overall cost of producing hydrogen from biomass.
Obstacles to commercial production of hydrogen gas from biomass previously included the high cost of the processes used and the relatively low quantity of the end product.
Other processes that convert sugar into biofuels such as ethanol and butanol always have energy efficiencies of less than 100 percent resulting in an energy penalty.
Support for the current research comes from the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.
Additional resources were contributed by the Shell Gamechanger Program the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life sciences'Biodesign and Bioprocessing Research center and the U s. Department of energy Bioenergy Science Center along with the Division of Chemical sciences
Geosciences and Biosciences Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the Department of energy. The lead author of the article Julia S. Martin Del Campo who works in Zhang's lab received her Ph d. grant from the Mexican Council of Science and Technology.
and animals when found in moderate to high concentrations said Tia-Lynn Ashman principal investigator of the study and professor and associate chair in Pitt's Department of Biological sciences in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of arts and Sciences.
By monitoring the genetic changes in CTCS and their invasiveness in a tissue culture dish doctors may be able to quickly adjust their treatment plans in response We are optimistic that the use of our Nanovelcro CTC technology will revolutionize prostate cancer treatment.
We hope the comprehensive understanding of cancer biology at the individual level will ultimately lead to better therapy choice for patients suffering from advanced cancer.
which reveals mutations in the genetic material of the cells and may help doctors personalize therapies to a patient's unique cancer.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA and VA Greater Los angeles Healthcare System Beijing Genomics Institute in China Cytolumina Technologies
or allowing them to establish naturally on nonforested lands has a significant positive effect on the amount of carbon held in soils said Nave an assistant research scientist at the U-M Biological Station and in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Biological Station and a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The work was supported by the U s. Forest Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Story Source:
#Multi-toxin biotech crops not silver bullets, scientists warnthe popular new strategy of planting genetically engineered crops that make two
#Gene responsible for short stature of dwarf pearl millet identifiedwhile pearl millet is a major food staple in some of the fastest growing regions On earth relatively little is known about the drought-hardy grain.
Recently plant geneticists at the University of Georgia successfully isolated the gene that creates dwarfed varieties of pearl millet.
It is the first time a gene controlling an important agronomic trait has been isolated in the pearl millet genome.
Genes Genomics Genetics. The dwarf varieties are economically important in the U s. India and Africa in particular.
The researchers led by UGA's Katrien Devos also were able to trace the dwarf gene to plants bred 50 years ago by Glenn Burton a UGA plant breeder who worked on the College of Agricultural and Environmental sciences'Tifton campus. Knowing
which gene controls the dwarfing trait will help plant breeders create more efficient sustainable varieties of millet that have the short stature some farmers and ranchers want.
Knowing the actual gene that reduces plant height has allowed us to develop markers that can be used by breeders to screen for the presence of the gene long before the effects of the gene can be observed visually said Devos a professor in the College of Agricultural
and Environmental sciences'Institute of Plant Breeding Genetics and Genomics housed in the department of crop and soil sciences and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences'department of plant biology.
Rajiv K. Parvathaneni a doctoral student working in Devos'lab was in charge of tracking down the gene
He also wanted to understand the mechanism by which the gene controls auxin and to develop plant-breeder-friendly markers that would allow breeders to screen for the dwarfing gene before their plants matured.
The gene that Parvathaneni found affects the downward transport of auxin which is made in the top part of the plant.
If this gene is on the auxin flows freely and millet will grow to its full height about 10 feet.
If it is off the millet plant may only grow to be 3 to 5 feet in height.
which region of the pearl millet's genome contributed to growth and then compared that section to a similar section of DNA from sorghum.
and a complete map of its genome recently was released by Devos'UGA colleague Andy Patterson.
The comparison revealed that ABCB1 a gene controlling auxin transport and causing reduced plant height in sorghum was the prime gene candidate controlling pearl millet dwarf stature Devos said.
Comparative genome analysis a process in which an unmapped genome is compared to the genome of a similar
and more thoroughly described plant genome is a common method to help identify the functions of specific genes especially in crops for which little genetic resources are available.
The next step for Devos'team is to work with researchers in other states to understand more fully how auxin transport differs in tall and dwarf millet plants
and to verify that ABCB1 is in fact the gene that controls dwarfism. After Devos and Parvathaneni located the dwarfing gene they tested pearl millet dwarfs from around the world.
All dwarfs caused by a nonfunctional ABCB1 gene have the same mutation as the dwarfs that were bred first by Burton in the 1960s.
Dwarf varieties of pearl millet are not ideal for every planting situation. In Africa many farmers prefer taller varieties
#Gene discovery may yield lettuce that will sprout in hot weathera team of researchers led by a University of California Davis plant scientist has identified a lettuce gene
The study also included researchers from Arcadia Biosciences and Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University India.
Discovery of the genes will enable plant breeders to develop lettuce varieties that can better germinate
and grow to maturity under high temperatures said the study's lead author Kent Bradford a professor of plant sciences and director of the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center.
In the new study researchers turned to lettuce genetics to better understand the temperature-related mechanisms governing seed germination.
They identified a region of chromosome six in a wild ancestor of commercial lettuce varieties that enables seeds to germinate in warm temperatures.
When that chromosome region was crossed into cultivated lettuce varieties those varieties gained the ability to germinate in warm temperatures.
Further genetic mapping studies zeroed in on a specific gene that governs production of a plant hormone called abscisic acid--known to inhibit seed germination.
The newly identified gene turns on in most lettuce seeds when the seed is exposed to moisture at warm temperatures increasing production of abscisic acid.
however this gene does not turn on at high temperatures. As a result abscisic acid is produced not and the seeds can still germinate.
either silence or mutate the germination-inhibiting gene in cultivated lettuce varieties thus enabling those varieties to germinate
and Claire Mccallum of Arcadia Biosciences which provided the lettuce lines with variants of the target gene to help confirm the study's findings.
Historical records compiled by retired NDOW biologist Robert Mcquivey that included old newspaper articles pioneer journals dating as far back as 1849
and reforestation and habitat regeneration occurred in parts of the their former range the bears rebounded.
Hirasaki Rice's A j. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering said employing waste heat is just one example of a number of ways that Rice's team is looking to improve upon a tried-and-true technology for CO2 capture.
Study co-authors include Michael Wong professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry and Ken Cox professor in the practice of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
which is funded strategically by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council had previously found that the probiotic Lactobacillus johnsonsii
when given to young chicks prevents the colonisation of C. perfringens. Now in research published in the journal PLOS ONE they have found that the probiotic bacteria have the ability to alter their coat.
They identified genes responsible for making a special coat or slime capsule which the bacteria surround themselves In this protects the bacteria from stomach acids
By turning off one or more of the coat genes they could see what effect this had on its ability to stick to gut tissues.
The next step is to understand the regulation of the genes involved in making the coat said Dr Arjan Narbad who led the studies.
Through the technology transfer company Plant Bioscience Ltd the strain has been patented and is now in large-scale farm trials to assess its efficacy.
The above story is provided based on materials by Norwich Bioscience Institutes. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#Cancer biologists find DNA-damaging toxins in common plant-based foodsin a laboratory study pairing food chemistry
and cancer biology scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center tested the potentially harmful effect of foods and flavorings on the DNA of cells.
and green teas and coffee activated the highest levels of a well-known cancer-linked gene called p53.
The p53 gene becomes activated when DNA is damaged. Its gene product makes repair proteins that mend DNA.
The higher the level of DNA damage the more p53 becomes activated. We don't know much about the foods we eat
This research is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative joint-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council Defra the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) the Scottish government and the Wellcome Trust under the auspices
The above story is provided based on materials by Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
In Biomaterials a team from Wake Forest Baptist Medical center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine report that in the laboratory setting engineered ovaries showed sustained release of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone.
#Regulation recommendations so that biofuel plants don t become weedsin the United states only species listed on state
and how they are created researchers at the University of Illinois's Energy Biosciences Institute have developed some suggestions on how to improve the regulation of all invasive plant species including new biofuels plants.
Quinn's job at the University of Illinois's Energy Biosciences Institute has been to investigate the potential for invasiveness in new nonnative crops that are being developed for biofuels.
Will the team's recommendations threaten the development of new biofuels crops? Endres said no that the recommendations offer protection for the industry rather than punishment.
The biggest threat to the biofuels industry is unsubstantiated accusations whether they relate to greenhouse gas savings
or individuals claiming that new biomass varieties will all be invasive species Endres said. And to the extent that the industry has a solid regulation that governs it it creates certainty within the industry
Endres said that developers also do not want to spend a lot of money to commercialize a biofuels plant that's going to cause trouble later on--they want to do that analysis beforehand
Quinn said that biofuels crops such as Miscanthus would be subject to the list. The current cultivars that are being sold for production are sterile
Quinn who is a postdoctoral research associate at the Energy Biosciences Institute at the University of Illinois conducted the research along with James Mccubbins and A. Bryan Endres both U of
Suggestions for Improved Regulation was published in the February issue of Biosciences. The research was funded by the Energy Biosciences Institute.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Illinois College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental sciences (ACES.
The study from the lab of SMU biologist Johannes H. Bauer Southern Methodist University Dallas found that fruit flies raised on diets of organic foods performed better on several tests for general health.
Bauer an assistant professor in SMU's Department of Biological sciences mentored Chhabra by helping guide and design her research experiments.
and analyzed two ancestral wheat genomes of Triticum urartu and Aegilops tauschii respectively throwing light on the biology of the world's primary staple crop
and providing valuable new resource for the genetic improvement of wheat. Wheat is a globally important crop due to its enhanced adaptability to a wide range of climates and improved grain quality for the production of baker's flour.
Major efforts are underway worldwide to increase its yield and quality by increasing genetic diversity and analyzing key traits related to its resistance to cold drought and disease.
However the extremely large size and polyploid complexity of the wheat genome has to date been a substantial barrier for researchers to gain insight into its biology and evolution.
These achievements are the results of joint efforts led by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and BGI.
The first manuscript led by teams at IGDB and BGI presents the genome of Bread wheat (T. aestivum AABBDD) the progenitor of the Wheat A genome.
Using a whole-genome shotgun strategy and Next-generation sequencing (NGS) researchers identified a large set of gene models (34879) and abundant genetic markers with the potential to provide a valuable resource for accelerating deeper and more systematic genomic and breeding
studies. For example they found the T. urartu homolog of Osgasr7 might be a useful candidate for improving wheat yield.
The discovery of 2989540 SNPS (single nucleotide polymorphisms) is useful for the future development and characterization of genetic markers.
The researchers also reported genomic evidence of the role of repeat expansion in the enlargement of genome size during the evolution of the Triticeae tribe of grasses.
Ae. tauschii (DD) also known as Tausch's goatgrass is a diploid goat grass species which has contributed the D genome of common wheat.
Around 8000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent it crossed with the tetraploid wheat T. turgidum (AABB) in rare hybridization events that resulted in the hexaploid wheat T aestivum.
However the modern strategy of breeding for hybrid vigor has been accompanied by marked changes in patterns of gene expression.
and BGI focuses on the genome sequencing and analysis of the wild diploid grass Ae. tauschii.
They found that more than 65.9%of the Ae. tauschii genome was composed of 410 different transposable element (TE) families
and the expansion of the Ae. tauschii genome was relatively recent and coincided with the abrupt climate change that occurred during the Pliocene epoch.
Remarkably a higher number of genes for the cytochrome P450 family were identified in Ae tauschii (485) than sorghum (365) rice (333) Brachypodium (262) and maize (261.
This family of genes has been found to be important for abiotic stress response especially in biosynthetic and detoxification pathways.
Shancen Zhao Project Manager of BGI said Genetic improvement of crops is the key output of breeding research.
and breeders to comprehensively understand wheat's genetic diversity and evolutionary history. The two studies also represent a major step forward for improving this vital crop in the face of global climate change growing human population and bioenergy.
Providing the global agricultural community with these resources new resources for crop improvement and in keeping with the scientific community's goals of making all data fully and freely available the huge amounts of data
Inheritance behavior in corn breaks accepted rules of geneticsnew research explains how certain traits can pass down from one generation to the next--at least in plants--without following the accepted rules of genetics.
Scientists have shown that an enzyme in corn responsible for reading information from DNA can prompt unexpected changes in gene activity--an example of epigenetics.
Epigenetics refers to modifications in the genome that don't directly affect DNA sequences. Though some evidence has suggested that epigenetic changes can bypass DNA's influence to carry on from one generation to the next this is the first study to show that this epigenetic heritability can be subject to selective breeding.
and found that one particular gene's activity persisted from one generation to the next whether the enzyme was functioning
or not--meaning typical genetic behavior was required not for the gene's trait to come through.
because the enzyme targets a tiny piece of DNA--previously thought of as junk DNA--that had jumped from one area of the genome to another giving that little fragment power to unexpectedly turn on the gene.
The gene in question affects pigmentation in the corn plant. As a result of these experiments the researchers were able to change yellow kernel corn to a blue kernel variety by compromising the activity of the enzyme in each male parent.
and through selective breeding move it from an inactive state to an active state said Jay Hollick associate professor of molecular genetics at The Ohio State university
The gene changes its expression in an epigenetic fashion and it doesn't follow standard inheritance behaviors.
Offspring receive one copy of genes from each parental plant and the characteristics of the alleles or alternative forms of genes help predict which traits will show up in the next plant generation.
However epigenetic variations that change the predictability of gene behavior have complicated those expectations. The breeding community searches for novel traits that will have commercial interest
and they really don't care what the basis is as long as they can capture it and breed it.
--if they recognize the variation they're looking for is the result of epigenetics they could use that to their advantage said Hollick also an investigator in Ohio State's centers for RNA Biology and Applied Plant sciences.
Just by knowing that this allele behaves in this epigenetic fashion I can breed plants that either have full coloration or no coloration or anything in between because
I am manipulating epigenetic variation and not genetic variation. And color of course is only one trait that could be affected.
With a longtime specialization in the molecular basis for unexpected gene activity in plants Hollick had zeroed in on an enzyme called RNA polymerase IV (Pol IV.
Multiple types of RNA polymerases are responsible for setting gene expression in motion in all cells and Pol IV is an enigmatic RNA polymerase that is known in plants to produce small RNA molecules.
because despite its strong conservation in all plants it appears to have no discernible impact on the development of Arabidopsis a common model organism in plant biology.
Since we knew the misplaced tassel-seed trait was due to misexpression of a gene we hypothesized that this pigment trait might be due to a pigment regulator being expressed in a tissue where it normally is expressed never.
This is taking a gene that is genetically null that doesn't have any function in this part of the plant
but not by selecting for any particular gene. We were just continually altering the epigenetic status of one of the two parental genomes every time.
This led the scientists to question why the affected alleles of the pigmentation gene would behave in this way.
An investigation of the affected alleles revealed the nearby presence of a transposon or transposable element:
a tiny piece of DNA that has leapt from one area of the genome to another.
Because the sequence of some small RNA fragments that come from Pol IV's activity are identical to the sequence of these transposons the finding made sense to the scientists.
Now that we know that Pol IV is involved in regulating transposons it's not surprising that genes that are near transposons are regulated now by Pol IV Hollick said.
But because these shy nocturnal primates look so much alike it's only possible to tell them apart with genetic sequencing.
and grey-brown mouse lemurs but the genetic data indicate they don't interbreed. The researchers named the other new species the Marohita mouse lemur
and took tiny skin samples for genetic analysis in the lab. Co-authors Anne Yoder and Dave Weisrock both at Duke university at the time analyzed two mitochondrial and four nuclear DNA genes to figure out where the animals fit into the lemur family tree.
Their genetic analyses were published in 2010 but this is the first time the species have been named formally and described.
Funded by a grant from the German Research Foundation the study is published in the March 26 online issue of the International Journal of Primatology.
Mouse lemurs are a closer genetic match to humans than mice and rats the most common lab animals.
whether a particular genetic variant in mouse lemurs is associated with Alzheimer's we need to know
Every new mouse lemur species that we sample in the wild will help researchers put the genetic diversity we see in grey mouse lemurs in a broader context she said.
and human studies investigating neurobiological mechanisms associated with vulnerability and resilience to alcohol addiction. Co-authors include:
As the need for carbon sequestration biofuels and other forest products increases the study suggests that there might be unintended consequences to enhancing ecosystems using fertilization.
and Paul Schaberg and John Battles of the University of California Berkley Charles Driscoll of Syracuse University Timothy Fahey of Cornell University Lucie Lepine of the University of New hampshire Gene
#Decoding the genetic history of the Texas longhornlonghorn cattle have a hybrid global ancestry according to a study by University of Texas at Austin researchers published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study of the genome of the Longhorn and related breeds tells a fascinating global history of human and cattle migration.
It's a real Texas story an American story said Emily Jane Mctavish a doctoral student in the lab of biology professor David Hillis.
and there's evidence that this genetic diversity is partially responsible for their greater resilience to harsh climatic conditions.
To reconstruct the genetic history of Texas longhorns Mctavish Hillis and colleagues from the University of Missouri-Columbia analyzed almost 50000 genetic markers from 58 cattle breeds.
The most comprehensive such analysis to date it was funded in part by the Cattlemen's Texas longhorn Conservancy
But their genetic signature is co mpletely consistent with being direct descendants of the cattle Columbus brought over.
Approximately 85 percent of the Longhorn genome is descended taurine from the ancient domestication of the wild aurochs that occurred in the middle East 8000-10000 years ago.
The other 15 percent of the genome is indicine from the other ancient domestication of the aurochs in India.
and brought these African genes and of course the European cattle were there as well. All those influences come together in the cattle of the Iberian peninsula
Having that genetic reservoir from those wild ancestors made it possible for a lot of those traits to be selected for once again.
and waned depending on how their unique genetic profile intersects with the changing needs of American consumers.
And their genes may prove valuable to ranchers who can use the increasingly sophisticated genetic information to selectively breed the Longhorns'toughness into other breeds of cattle.
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