GLOBAL: Climate-proof food plants are coming

A scientist at the Norwich-based John Innes Centre claims to have created a food plant that defies all doomsday scenarios in which  extreme temperatures take us all to oblivion, and instead keeps growing and bearing fruit regardless of climate conditions.  He says this can become a reality  within the next 10 to 15 years as they have isolated a "thermometer" gene that helps plants sense temperature, and this could provide a shortcut to creating plants that  fruit in any temperature.

Scientists across the world have been working to create food crops tolerant to extreme temperatures, some of which are already being grown in Asia. They are evolved from a long of process of subjecting grain plants to stresses such as drought conditions, and then isolating genes from those that survived to create new variants. This discovery could potentially push agricultural microbiology forward by leaps and bounds in much the same way that early medicine, which depended on empirical methods to treat diseases, was revolutionized by an increased understanding of bacteria.

The impact of extreme temperatures and water stress on food production, brought on by climate change, could be felt in the next 10 years and food production in Africa could be severely compromised by 2020. This discovery would cut down the time it takes to find varieties that are more tolerant to extreme temperatures, and will lead to precision breeding as one won't have to tamper with all the genes.

 Water proof rice set to make waves in South Asia

Waterproof versions of popular varieties of rice, which can withstand two weeks of complete submergence, have passed tests in farmers’ fields. Several of these varieties are now close to official release by national and state seed certification agencies in Bangladesh and India, where farmers suffer major crop losses because of flooding of up to 4 million tons of rice per year which is enough to feed 30 million people. The flood-tolerant versions of the mega-varieties and high-yielding varieties that are popular with both farmers and consumers grown over huge areas across Asia are effectively identical to their susceptible counterparts but recover after severe flooding to yield well.

The new varieties were made possible following the identification of a single gene that is responsible for most of the submergence tolerance. Thirteen years ago, the gene in a low-yielding traditional Indian rice variety known to withstand flooding was identified. The researchers isolated the specific gene—called Sub1A—and demonstrated that it confers tolerance to normally intolerant rice plants. Sub1A gene effectively makes the plant dormant during submergence, allowing it to conserve energy until the floodwaters recede. Typically, rice plants will extend the length of their leaves and stem in an attempt to escape submergence. The Sub1A gene is an evolutionarily new gene in rice found in only a small proportion of the rice varieties originating from eastern India and Sri Lanka. The activation of this gene under submergence counteracts the escape strategy.

DuPont Proceeds with Modified Soybean amid court loss

DuPont Co., the world’s second-biggest seed producer, will continue creating modified soybeans in spite of  a court ruling that this is in violation of  a licencing areement with Monsanto  because it expects its view to prevail in other claims in the case. DuPont plans to begin selling Optimum GAT soybean seeds that include Monsanto’s Roundup Ready gene as early as 2013. DuPont, said that such a combination.

Monsanto, the world’s largest seed producer, is also facing a US Department of Justice probe into competition in the genetically modified crop industry as the judge upheld Monsanto’s effort to block the release of Optimum GAT soybeans. DuPont’s claims that Monsanto is using its dominance in biotech seeds to stifle competition and that its Roundup Ready patent is invalid.

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