Month: July 2019

USDA Undersecretary of Agriculture Greg Ibach testified before the House Agriculture Subcommittee that plants grown with the aid of genetically modified organisms and gene editing could be sanction to be certified organic in the future. “I think there is the opportunity to open the discussion to consider whether it is appropriate for some of these […]

As Kenya harvests its national performance trials of genetically modified (GM) pest-resistant Bt cotton, Preliminary results shows Bt cotton it boosts yields four-fold over standard varieties. Upon harvesting the field trial planted at Mwea in Kenya’s Central region, Bt cotton yields 6.1 tonnes per hectare, said Dr. Charles Waturu, a senior research scientist with the […]

In Argentina, the existence of the cotton weevil represents a challenge for cotton production due to the production losses it causes. Argentina’s National Institute for Agricultural and Livestock and the cotton provinces of Chaco, Formosa, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero have been working on the evolution of different strategies to deal with this plague. […]

Roughly one-third of the world’s arable land suffers from lack of approachable iron, rendering it inhospitable to staple crops like maize and soybeans. In 2018, a Stanford research team led by associate professor of chemical engineering Elizabeth Sattely discovered a genetic adaptation that allows one hardy plant to thrive on these marginal soils. Although more […]

A team of Clemson University scientists has achieved a breakthrough in the genetics of senescence in cereal crops with the potential to dramatically impact the future of food security in the era of climate change. Rajan Sekhon, a plant geneticist and an assistant professor in the College of Science’s department of genetics and biochemistry mentioned.”Senescence […]

Scientists have captured high-resolution, three-dimensional images of an enzyme in the process of squarely cutting DNA strands. The images — captured using a technique called cryogenic electron microscopy, or cryo-EM — reveal new information about how a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9 works, which may help researchers develop versions of it that operate more methodical and […]