PARTIAL TABLE OF
CONTENTS, relevant to seed professionals (links are to the ISB News Report website)
RISK ASSESSMENT
Gene-deletor: a new tool to
address concerns over GE crops
Yi Li, Hui Duan, and William Smith
The laboratory of Dr. Yi Li,
University of Connecticut, has recently developed a new
technology called "gene-deletor" or "GM-gene-deletor". As
shown in tobacco, the gene-deletor technology, with a
loxP-FRT hybrid as the recognition sequences for FLP or Cre
recombinase, is 100% efficient in deleting all functional
transgenes from both pollen and seeds, based on examination
of more than 25,000 progeny per transgenic event.
Complete article:
pdf:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/artspdf/jun0701.pdf
web:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/news07.jun.htm#jun0701
PLANT RESEARCH NEWS
Genetically engineering folate
biofortification in tomato
Claudia Lerma-Ortiz
To help prevent folate deficiency,
some western countries, including the United States, have
made the fortification of grain products with synthetic
folic acid mandatory. Fortification helps people get the
recommended allowance in their regular diet. Unfortunately,
in developing countries this kind of fortification presents
a series of challenges--distribution inequities, recurrent
costs, and lack of a food industry. Furthermore,
fortification may itself cause some health problems.
Therefore, to achieve a greater margin of safety and lower
costs, the consumption of common foods with a high content
of natural THF would be a better solution.
Complete article:
pdf:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/artspdf/jun0703.pdf
web:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/news07.jun.htm#jun0703
CONFERENCE NEWS
Selected highlights from the 2007
BIO International convention
Tracy Sayler
The recent 2007 Biotechnology
Industry Organization (BIO) International Convention held in
Boston drew a record 22,366 attendees with representatives
from 48 states and 64 countries. Keynote speakers were Queen
Noor of Jordan and Michael J. Fox.
Complete article:
pdf:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/artspdf/jun0704.pdf
web:
http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/news07.jun.htm#jun0704
