Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
SCIENCE DAILYTransgenic Crops: How Genes Jump from Crop to Crop1st December 2010A new data-driven statistical model that incorporates the surrounding landscape in unprecedented detail describes the transfer of an inserted bacterial gene via pollen and seed dispersal in cotton plants more accurately than previously available methods. Shannon Heuberger, a graduate student at the University of…
GMOs are often defined as events that cannot occur in nature. GMO Pundit’s series on natural GMOs has provided many examples of movement of DNA between different species, indeed different biological kingdoms that are found in the natural world. Click on the natural GMOs tag to find these examples. This new paper by Pernilla Vallenback…
It has long been known to the common bacterium called Agrobacterium can inject DNA into plant cells. It naturally causes shape alterations called galls on plants that are infected with this bacterium as a result of its ability to inject genes it carries inside its own cells into plant cells. Ability to mate with other…
Read More “Natural GMOs Part 80. Bacteria mate with fungi on plant surfaces.” »
Deliberate engineering of mutations to predetermined sites in plant genes is made possible by a technique being exploited by the company Cibus. There are several different posts about this company Cibus at GMO Pundit. The interesting thing about this technique is that it leaves no trace behind after is being carried out except the desired…
Read More “Non-transgenic genetic engineering continues its market progress” »
Jorge Cham, the creator of the hilarious and successful online comic strip, Piled Higher and Deeper (Ph.D.), just visited NMSU’s Chili Pepper Institute, and took video! Check it out. PHD Tales from the Road – NMSU’s Chile Pepper Institute from PHD Comics on Vimeo.
Genetic escape podsMicrobes share and preserve their genetic material by releasing bodies that resemble viruses into the environment [Published 1st October 2010 02:49 PM GMT at The Scientist] Packaging random snippets of DNA into virus-like capsules known as gene transfer agents, or GTAs, may be a key way for marine bacteria to exchange genetic information,…
Crisis in Australia’s seed banks30 September 2010by Elizabeth Finkel Cosmos Online Australia’s seed banks are hitting the dust, one by one, which may be violating an international treaty and could damage Australian agriculture down the track. (more at link)
MONSANTO AND ILLUMINA REACH KEY MILESTONE IN SEQUENCING OF COTTON GENOME. Press release Companies Will Donate Info to the Public Domain; Texas A&M Professor to Lead Effort on Cotton Genome Sequencing ST. LOUIS and SAN DIEGO (Sept. 22, 2010) – The complicated cotton genome is one step closer to having its genetic threads unraveled, thanks…
Photo: James Butubu of the Cacao and Coconut Research Institute in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, evaluates the new progeny of a cacao tree. Cacao fruit grows from the tree’s branches. (Credit: Photo by Ray Schnell, USDA-ARS) EurekAlert 16 Sep 2010 Analysis of the chocolate genome could lead to improved crops and products The sequencing and…
Read More “Natural GMOs Part 77. Chocolate tree genome only 20 percent transposons” »
Written by Matt DiLeo It’s been estimated that genetic resistance to every pesticide that will ever be invented already exists in some microbe in some field, somewhere in the world (simply because there are so many individuals of each species). If you invent an incredible new spray that kills, say, Phytophthora infestans, you’d know that…