Information Systems for Biotechnology (ISB) News Report
PARTIAL TABLE OF CONTENTS, relevant to seed professionals (links are to the ISB News Report website)

RISK ASSESSMENT NEWS

Gene flow from transgenic oilseed rape
Tristan Funk, Peter Westermeier & Gerhard Wenzel
The main objective of this study was the examination of short distance outcrossing of transgenic oilseed rape in the nearest neighborhood. The experimental design allowed the detailed determination of the effects of distance and wind direction on pollination frequencies and distribution. For regulations of co-existence of GM crop cultivation with conventional and organic farming, the relationship between distance and outcrossing is of major interest.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/artspdf/apr0601.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.apr.htm#apr0601

PLANT RESEARCH NEWS

Protective plague vaccine produced in tobacco leaves
Luca Santi and Hugh S. Mason
The use of plant viral vectors offers several advantages. The small genome size of most plant viruses facilitates molecular engineering, allowing the facile generation of large numbers of different constructs that can be quickly tested. Fully functional and systemic infectious vectors are easily transmissible by mechanical inoculation, making large-scale infections feasible. The major limitation is that the acquired trait is not genetically transmissible and a new infection must be performed on every new plant. Several expression vectors have been developed using different types of plant viruses; the most common are based on single stranded positive RNA viruses like the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV).

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/artspdf/apr0602.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.apr.htm#apr0602

INDUSTRY NEWS

Triticum aestivum L (Wheat)—An incredibly complex genetic soup
Tracy Sayler
The irony of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)--which some want to see spared from genetic manipulation through biotechnology--is that the genetic manipulation of this crop over thousands of years makes decoding and thus 'manipulating' the genes of bread wheat all the more difficult today.

Complete article:
pdf: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/artspdf/apr0604.pdf
web: http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2006/news06.apr.htm#apr0604